Metroid Prime 4 has been in development purgatory, but it’s confirmed to still be in the works. Here’s what we know about when it may drop.
The next installment in the popular series was first revealed in 2017 with development to be handled by Bandai Namco. The news was met with praise from fans, as the first title is widely held up as one of the best games of its generation with the entire trilogy being fondly remembered. Unfortunately, things have not been going smoothly.
After over a year of silence regarding the game’s development, Nintendo announced that development was being restarted. The decision stemmed from Nintendo being dissatisfied with the quality of the game at that point. As a result, the project was taken from Namco Bandai and passed over to Retro Studios. Retro was the developer of the first three Metroid Prime series.
That announcement came in January 2019, though. What has happened in the three years since? And when will Metroid Prime 4 come out?
Metroid Prime 4 has no release date, but could come out sooner than later
At the moment, it is unknown when Metroid Prime 4 is set to come out. Unfortunately, it’s a situation where the game could come out in a few months, or in a year, or in two years.
There’s no doubt that Retro Studios has been working on the game all this time. The company’s official Twitter account occasionally puts out calls for talent. Outside of that, the company has posted openings on job boards and its official website. Though listings from video game developers are often vague, Retro Studios is oddly explicit that it is hiring staff for Metroid.
The good news is that this means that Metroid Prime 4 definitely isn’t canceled. Given the fact that it has been in the works for three years, odds are it’s very deep into its development. Past that? There’s nothing known for sure.
The potential good news is that Metroid Dread showed that it could hypothetically come out at any point. Though Metroid Prime 4 was confirmed years ago, Nintendo announced Metroid Dread in June 2021 and released it just four months later. It wouldn’t be out of the question for this to happen again.
