''Metroid Prime 4'' is an upcoming video game developed by

Retro Studios Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Nintendo based in Austin, Texas. The studio is best known for its work on the ''Metroid Prime'' and ''Donkey Kong Country'' series, and has contributed to several other N ...

and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. The title was announced during an online showcase at

E3 2017 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

, and was reportedly initially developed by

Bandai Namco Studios is a Japanese video game development, video game developer headquartered in Kōtō, Tokyo. Its offices in Malaysia and Singapore, Bandai Namco Studio Malaysia and Bandai Namco Studios Singapore, are based out of Selangor, Malaysia and Infinite St ...

. In early 2019, development restarted under Retro Studios, developer of the previous ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the '' Metroid'' franchise and the first game in the series to use 3D c ...

'' games.

Kensuke Tanabe is a Japanese video game producer and designer working for Nintendo, where he currently is Senior Officer at Nintendo EPD. After he had graduated from the Visual Concept Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, he decided to enter the ...

, who worked on the first ''Prime'' games, returned as a producer.

Development

Nintendo announced ''Metroid Prime 4'' during their

broadcast.

Bill Trinen William Trinen (born August 21) is the Senior Director Product Marketing of Nintendo of America. He is also a professional Japanese-to-English translator who has worked on the localization of numerous Nintendo-published video games and often acts ...

, director of product marketing at

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. ...

, confirmed that ''Metroid Prime 4'' would involve ''Metroid'' producer

but not

, which had developed the previous ''

'' games. While not confirmed by Nintendo, ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'' reported that ''Prime 4'' was being developed by

of Japan and Singapore; the Bandai Singapore staff included former

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as ...

staff who had worked on the cancelled ''

Star Wars 1313 ''Star Wars 1313'' is a cancelled action-adventure video game that was under development by LucasArts. The game would take a more mature, gritty direction compared to past ''Star Wars'' video games and, like 2002's '' Star Wars: Bounty Hunter'', ...

''. In 2018, then-Nintendo of America president

Reggie Fils-Aimé Reginald Fils-Aimé ( ; born March 25, 1961) is an American businessman best known for being the president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, the North American division of the Japanese video game company Nintendo, from 2006 ...

stated that ''Metroid Prime 4'' was "well into development" and "proceeding well". However, Nintendo did not show it during their

E3 2018 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 (E3 2018) was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

presentation, and said they would only share more information once they believed they "had something that would wow people". In a video released online in early 2019,

Nintendo EPD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. E ...

general manager Shinya Takahashi announced that development on ''Metroid Prime 4'' had restarted under Retro Studios with Tanabe. Takahashi said that development under the previous studio had not met Nintendo's standards and that the decision to restart the project was not taken lightly. In October 2020, Retro posted a job advertisement seeking storyboard artists to work on "emotional" and "interesting and innovative scenes that elevate the narrative"; ''

Video Games Chronicle Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

'' took this as an indication of a more cinematic focus than previous ''Metroid Prime'' games.

References

External links

Official ''Metroid'' series website

Official Retro Studios website
{{Retro Studios Upcoming video games Metroid games Metroid Prime Nintendo Switch games Nintendo Switch-only games Retro Studios games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United States Video games produced by Kensuke Tanabe