Nintendo Says Announcing 'Metroid Prime 4' on Switch Early is Them Saying It's an 'Important Franchise to Us'
For Nintendo, releasing "Metroid Prime 4" on the Nintendo Switch and announcing it early was their way of saying that the video game franchise was important to them.
One of the surprise announcements during Nintendo's main press event at the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo a few days ago involved the newest game in the "Metroid" franchise that is tentatively called "Metroid Prime 4." The game follows "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption," which was released a decade ago.
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was interviewed by Polygon at E3, where he said: "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."
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The first-ever "Metroid" game was launched in 1986 and was playable on the classic Nintendo Entertainment System console. Games under this franchise are known for its space galaxy theme that incorporates the adventure, platformer, and shooter video game genres. In exploring the world of "Metroid," players control the main protagonist Samus Aran.
When "Metroid Prime 4" was announced, Nintendo only provided a short video teaser without any other details except that it is "in development for Nintendo Switch."
During the announcement, Nintendo did not specify who the developing team working on the upcoming "Metroid Prime 4" game was, although many already knew that Retro Studios — who developed several "Metroid" installments — was in no way attached to the project this time around. It was only known, through a fact sheet obtained by Kotaku, that franchise producer Kensuke Tanabe would be guiding the new team assigned to make "Metroid Prime 4."
However, as the days go by, more details are starting to become available. More recently, Tanabe spoke with GameSpot and confirmed that Retro Studios would not be working on the newest "Metroid" game because the team is busy with a new project.
The same report pointed out that since Retro Studios had finished with "Tropical Freeze" since November 2016, whatever game it was currently working on has been in development for some months now.
GameSpot recalled the time when Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto hinted it was "possible" Retro Studios could be working on a new "The Legend of Zelda" title. However, Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh reportedly refused to confirm this in the GameSpot interview..
