Nintendo scraps Metroid Prime 4 progress, shifts development to new studio

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: One of Nintendo’s most anticipated Switch exclusives is going back to the drawing board after the current studio was unable to meet Nintendo's standards for quality. The hiccup will delay the game's launch by what could be a couple of years, pushing the title much later into the Switch's lifespan than Nintendo initially hoped for.

Metroid Prime 4 was first announced at E3 2017. Rumors surfaced in early 2018 that Bandai Namco was working on the title. It was originally thought that Retro Studios, the developer behind the first three Metroid Prime games, would get the nod but Nintendo confirmed that wasn’t the case shortly after E3.

On Friday, Nintendo executive Shinya Takahashi revealed that development of Metroid Prime 4 has not reached the standards that Nintendo seeks in a Metroid Prime entry. Specifically, Takahashi said the current development status of the game is very challenged and they have decided to “reexamine the development structure itself and change it.”

In other words, development of the project is being halted. Current progress will be scrapped and development will start over from the beginning under the guidance of Retro Studios.

Naturally, a change of this magnitude will delay the game’s launch. It’s probably safe to assume that the game won’t arrive for several more years – late into the Switch’s lifecycle. That’s far from ideal but likely the right decision if the current product wasn’t up to Nintendo’s standards.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78442-nintendo-scraps-metroid-prime-4-progress-shifts-development.html

 

[gusticles41]

Port in the Prime Trilogy in the meantime to keep us occupied, please?

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Truly wish that I could get excited for this, but I just can't. The fact that it will most likely be another 1st person style game disappoints me greatly. An FPS is an FPS is an FPS. It's just a different skin is all it will be. That is completely boring and a total waste of time.

 

[Burty117]

I like this, I like it when a company can come out and say "This isn't good enough, we're sorry but you're gunna have to wait until we think the quality is there". Wish more companies would do this.

 

[gusticles41]

I like this, I like it when a company can come out and say "This isn't good enough, we're sorry but you're gunna have to wait until we think the quality is there". Wish more companies would do this.

Exactly! They've delivered on Mario Party, Smash, Mario Kart, etc. I'm willing to wait for a well-polished Metroid game.

 

[stewi0001]

Not using Retro Studios to begin with was Nintendo's big mistake, IMO.

Also, I still do not own a Switch.

 

[ShObiT]

FPS were the bread and butter in the early 2000's, then they were pushing the Wii motion controllers.

For the Switch is another story. Imagine a Metroid game with Breath of the Wild open world structure and other elements... Oh Yeah.

 

[kmo911]

Duke nukem forever time span and m p 4 would it not be many years to nxt 5 th game ??
dnf got bad deals ? it was a joy too play with b bo bo

 

[Burty117]

Duke nukem forever time span and m p 4 would it not be many years to nxt 5 th game ??

Eerrmmm, what?

 

[Xallisto]

Whilst this is soul crushing, there is a major silver lining in that Retro Studios are now leading the development.

 

[Xallisto]

Truly wish that I could get excited for this, but I just can't. The fact that it will most likely be another 1st person style game disappoints me greatly. An FPS is an FPS is an FPS. It's just a different skin is all it will be. That is completely boring and a total waste of time.

Except when it's not, Metroid Prime is a shooter about as much as it's 2D counterparts are 2D shooters. Shooting is a part of it, but the onus has and always will be on on exploration.