When the Nintendo Switch was announced, and then had its major “global reveal” event, Nintendo made it clear that they wanted to bring both old franchises to the game as well as cementing new IP or continuing new franchises. For many, they wanted to see Metroid come back to consoles for the first time since the Wii (via Other M which was a major bomb). Their prayers were answered at E3 2017 when Metroid Prime 4 was announced. Since that point though, we’ve heard nothing about the title.
And now…we know why. In a special “development update” by Nintendo, Shinya Takahashi, Senior Managing Executive Officer of the company spoke about Metroid Prime 4 and revealed that the reason there has been no updates on the game since E3 2017 was because progress wasn’t going as they had hoped. To that end, they’re starting development over from the beginning, and starting over with a different studio at the helm.
Takahashi noted that Nintendo has very high standards for their games, and especially for Metroid with its “return”. They wanted to make sure that the fans would be really pleased with the return of the Metroid Prime series, but after looking at it very hard, they knew that we the fans would not be. So to fix this, and to get back on track, they’re starting over…and…putting Retro Studios back in the saddle to helm the franchise.
Retro Studios were the creators of the beloved Metroid Prime trilogy, and so having them on Metroid Prime 4 is a great way to restore confidence in the game and know that it will be done right.
Of course, the catch with this is that because this is a “do over”, we won’t be hearing about the game for some time, as they’re going to be working on it throughout 2019 and likely 2020.
