A new Kirby game looks to be in the planning stages, and according to developer HAL Laboratory it will apparently take the pink puffball to "the next stage".
As reported by Nintendo Everything, the information comes from a new interview with game director Shinya Kumazaki that can be found in the recently released Kirby Star Allies art book.
Towards the end of the book Kumazaki talks about some of Star Allies' development, before talking about the future of the Kirby series. Here Kumazaki says, "And now, finally, we can move on to the next phase! I still try new things at work every day, talking with my colleagues about where to take the series next. Together with them, even if only to please a single fan, we’re planning for the next stage of our future. The team is a culmination of the best aspects of the Kirby franchise, and we hope you’ll look forward to what we have coming next".
Whether or not this means that a new Kirby game is fully in development isn't clear, but we now know that HAL Labs is planning out whatever is next for the series. The last full Kirby game was Kirby Star Allies in 2018, so a new game isn't a surprise.
What's really interesting about this interview is the use of the phrase "next stage", as it seems to imply that Kirby will be evolving somehow. One long-standing rumour is that a proper 3D Kirby game will release on the Nintendo Switch. Assets were found in Kirby Fighters 2 that seemed to indicate a 3D game was on the way, and it would certainly count as the next stage of Kirby considering he's only ever been in 2D.
It shouldn't be too long until we find out what Nintendo's plans for Kirby are as Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that "many" new games will be releasing for the Switch this year. With the company confirmed to appear at E3, we could possibly hear about the next stage of Kirby soon.