Summary
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond faced development setbacks, starting from scratch after years of silence.
- Retro Studios took over the project, but further delays led to a 2025 release date announcement.
- Nintendo confirmed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is still on track for 2025, raising hopes for the Switch 2 launch.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has had one of the most arduous development cycles in Nintendo’s history. After its initial announcement at E3 2017, and subsequent years of silence, Nintendo confirmed development would be starting from scratch.
The company removed then developers Bandai Namco and appointed series veterans, Retro Studios, to take charge of the game. Things appeared to be in good hands with Retro, the team that developed all three previous titles in the Metroid Prime series. However, more years of silence followed.
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In June last year, Nintendo held its annual summer Direct, and surprisingly, it finally featured Metroid Prime 4, giving it a 2025 release date.
Eight months have passed since then with no further news on the title, and given its development troubles, you would be forgiven if you had some skepticism as to whether the game is going to launch this year. Nintendo has moved to assuage those concerns, though, with the company confirming that Metroid Prime 4 is still a 2025 game.
Nintendo Reassures Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Is Still Launching This Year
In its latest investor relations report, Nintendo discussed its ‘first-party titles set for release in 2025’. That list included Donkey Kong County Returns HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Pokemon Legends Z-A, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
This announcement will likely delight fans and investors alike, with Metroid Prime 4 seeming more and more likely to be a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2, something we’ll probably find out when the company holds its Switch 2 Direct on April 2.
Ahead of the upcoming Nintendo Direct, the only game we know that is definitely launching for the Switch 2 is the new, officially unannounced, yet-to-be-titled Mario Kart game, which was shown off when Nintendo revealed the console.
It’s an exciting time to be alive, with a little under two months until we find out more about what Nintendo has been cooking.
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Retro Studios
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Nintendo
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