Ever since Metroid Prime 4 was announced back at E3 2017, many have wondered about the state of the game. Back in November last year, Nintendo announced that the game was well into its development, hinting that we could learn more about a possible release date soon. Unfortunately fans will need to wait a bit longer.
This is because in a recent video shared on YouTube (via ArsTechnica), Nintendo General Manager for Development Shinya Takahashi revealed that development on Metroid Prime 4 had been scrapped. Instead the game will now be developed by Retro Studios, the developer responsible for the original Metroid Prime series, with producer Kensuke Tanabe collaborating on it.
According to Takahashi, “The current development status of the game is very challenged and we have made a very difficult decision as a development team. We have decided to reexamine the development structure and change it.”
He adds, “This change will essentially mean restarting development from the beginning, so the completion of the game will be delayed from our initial internal plan. It will be a long road until the next time we will be able to update you on the development progress, and development time will be extensive.”
While this is no doubt a bummer, we suppose it’s better that Nintendo release a game that’s properly done. So far the company’s releases have been pretty successful and have been well-received, which in turn have helped spur interest and sales of the Nintendo Switch.