It’s no surprise that last year’s E3 announcement of Metroid Prime 4 was a big one for Nintendo fans, brief though it was.Those 40 seconds of teaser were enough to get people talking for the better part of a year, and with Nintendo’s E3 presentation days away, that hype is coming back faster than a Shinespark.
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The fact is, people love their Metroid Prime. Well, most people at least… With that in mind, how much do we actually KNOW about this new Metroid Prime title? The answer is “not much”, but let’s examine everything we DO know about Metroid Prime 4.
Retro Studios Isn’t Making It
During last year’s show, Bill Trinen revealed that Retro Studios, the team that developed the first 3 games in the series, will not be developing Metroid Prime 4. However, Kensuke Tanabe, who produced every other Metroid Prime title will be producing this one as well.
Trinen was reported as saying Metroid Prime 4 will be developed by a “talented new development team.” However, one year later, there still isn’t any official confirmation on who is developing this game.
Bandai-Namco Might Be
A Bandai-Namco Singapore employee announced on his LinkedIn page that he is developing an “Unannounced IP (First Person Shooter/Adventure Exclusive to the Nintendo Switch).”
This has led to some heavy online speculation about what that game might be, and given Nintendo’s history (or lack thereof) of First Person Shooters, the general consensus is that this will prove to be Metroid Prime 4, though there’s no official confirmation of this.
GameSpot reached out to Bandai-Namco, to which they replied “Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. cannot confirm nor deny rumors or speculation about its products.”
Metroid Prime 4 May Not Release In 2018
According to a Nintendo earnings report, almost every game announced at E3 2017 was listed as having a 2018 release date. Metroid Prime 4, however, wasn’t one of them. Inauspiciously, it is listed as having a TBA (To Be Announced) release date, meaning even Nintendo might not know yet when the game will launch.
In an interview with Polygon, Reggie Fils-Aime was quoted as saying “We wanted to make it clear that Metroid is an important franchise for us. As we think about how to satisfy the needs to the Metroid fans, we needed to make sure they understood there was a great console experience coming, in addition to Metroid: Samus Returns coming on Nintendo 3DS. That’s what we wanted to make sure it was clear that it wasn’t one or the other, that we were going to support both of our platforms with a great new Metroid experience.”
In short, the announcement of Metroid Prime 4 may have been premature, to alleviate concerns that there was no big budget game coming out to contrast Metroid: Samus Returns.
If the announcement really was premature, we might not be seeing Metroid Prime 4 until 2019.
Metroid Prime 4 Is a Temporary Name
That same earnings report reveals some other interesting info – Metroid Prime 4 is a temporary title. If this game follows the naming culture of past titles, it will probably end up with an additional subtitle, something like Metroid Prime 4: Resurrection. Of course, with Nintendo, it’s nearly impossible to tell if they’ll continue this trend or go in an entirely different direction.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know about Metroid Prime 4 at this time Hopefully this week’s E3 presentation will shed some light on the upcoming game – It’ll certainly help us cross a spot or two off of our E3 2018 Bingo Card!
What are you expecting from Metroid Prime 4? Will it live up to the hype, or fail to meet expectations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
