Metroid Prime 4: Secretly Cancelled?

[KingSimpson369]

If your anything like me, and probably like everyone else, you might be getting really impatient when it comes to Metroid Prime 4. When it was first announced back at E3 2017 all those years ago, a lot of Metroid fans, myself included, were extremely surprised and excited to see that the Metroid franchise was finally getting a new main game in the series. The game's initial developers was Bandai Namco. The first year and a half was promising, knowing the game was being worked on period. But then, one day in early 2019, tragedy struck: Nintendo released a video stating that the production of the game was completely scrapped and started from scratch all over again. This devastated many Metroid fans, including myself, knowing that years of waiting for a new game will go on longer than planned. However, there was a silver lining to this dark cloud: the game is now currently being worked on by the original developers of the original Metroid Prime games for the GameCube: Retro Studios. While we gave a sigh of relief knowing the game is being worked on by the OG developers, we were still upset at the fact that the game is being delayed a lot longer than it should've been. Since then, Nintendo never said ANYTHING about the current state of the game. No Announcements, No Concept Art, No Trailers, Nothing! Needless to say, these last 4 years have been not good to us Metroid fans. Yes, we all got Metroid Prime Remastered for the Switch now, which is a nice welcome, but all the same, I really don't want Metroid Prime 4 to end up like Half Life 3.

[Downtown DK Company ✅]

Retro has let Metroid and Donkey Kong fans down

[Starfarer]

I’m not surprised, even Bayonetta 3 has been released by now.

[Phirestar]

They did just reveal and release a remastered version of the first Metroid Prime at the Nintendo Direct, a little over a week ago. There is likely a chance that the other two older games in the series will receive the same treatment in the near future, which could suggest that they're building anticipation for the release of 4 by giving everyone an opportunity to experience / re-experience the old trilogy.

[GlaceonChireiden]

Prime 4 is just Nintendo's Duke Nukem Forever.
Going to take forever to release, constantly being restarted/switching main directors, and when it finally releases it'll be mediocre at best.

[Sharkster_00]

I don't think the game is cancelled when a game is stuck in limbo it means its in developement hell until the company actually confirmed it was cancelled. I understand you frustrations though I mean for example Dead island 2 was announced in 2014 and it was in developement hell for 9 years since the game kept switching developers.

[Moogal™]

Playing Super Metroid at my SNES Classic. Would get a more modern Nintendo console but i don't really feel the need for it.

[zeke]

Game development takes time. If they scrapped the previous work, then the game will have probably gone all the way back to pre-production [the early 'drawing board' stages (usually a state with only a handful of people working on it - mostly concept work and discussions of technical feasibility)]. Until a game hits the (mid-to-late) production stage, there probably isn't going to be anything (in terms of specifics) that most developers/publishers will likely to want to share with the general public.

The team(s) that are/will be responsible for game development may also have other projects on their plate (with their own development schedules/priorities) besides development of Metroid Prime 4.

Don't forget, you also had Covid disruptions take place in the last few years. Many long term projects experienced set-backs that are still being felt to this day.

Also note: Companies don't have anything to gain by keeping a project cancellation a secret. Projects that go a long time without any details being released are usually either large projects (in-scale) that, as a result, take longer to develop or they are projects that have ended up in some form of development limbo (usually stuck between some mixture of pre-production and very early production phases - with the possibility of pre-pre-production details [2x 'pre' was purposeful] being in the air).

If interested this article goes into a little detail about the stages of game development:
https://www.g2.com/articles/stages-of-game-development

[Alienslayer2406]

The recent release of the Metroid Prime Remaster makes me hopeful that they've got something planned this year. Plus, an update on Prime 4 alongside the release of Tears of the Kingdom would probably let Nintendo win E3. If they still have it this year.

[gugnihr]

引用自 🎭 Two-Face 🪙：

Retro has let Metroid and Donkey Kong fans down

At least Retro Studios made the ONLY great Donkey Kong Country game, the first Donkey Kong Country Returns. That game is just wonderful.- Yes for my taste Tropical freeze was a big disappointment unfortunately, which is sad expecially because there was no swimming in the first one (if the first one had swimming there would have been just no need for any sequel at all, it is such awonderful game)

Metroid prime 1 was good too. I've never been a fan of Metroid but I really liked itr it's the only Metroid game that I ever liked.

So it just seems that Retro is great at doing the first game and then I don't know they just give all they have with the first and can't keep up with the high standard of that one in the sequels but that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least they do one amazing job the first time.
At least that's what happened for now. I'm just grateful to have such a wonderful Donkley Kong 2D platformer and well even if I don't care too much about Metroid playing Metroid Prime 1 on the Gamecube was quite amazing too.

[KingSimpson369]

引用自 JustSomeLego：

Prime 4 is just Nintendo's Duke Nukem Forever.
Going to take forever to release, constantly being restarted/switching main directors, and when it finally releases it'll be mediocre at best.

I certainly hope not, Metroid is one of Nintendo's biggest IP's

[talemore]

Remaster is pretty much copy and paste from one engine to another.

[MistuhG]

The last metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace.

[Starfarer]

引用自 MistuhG：

The last metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace.

Ridley and Mother Brain: Allow us to introduce ourselves.

[Zero, Dark Knight]

Well if the OP knows about it, not much of a secret is it? I'd say "No"

[Devsman]

引用自 Phirestar：

They did just reveal and release a remastered version of the first Metroid Prime at the Nintendo Direct, a little over a week ago. There is likely a chance that the other two older games in the series will receive the same treatment in the near future, which could suggest that they're building anticipation for the release of 4 by giving everyone an opportunity to experience / re-experience the old trilogy.

Ah yes, the tried and true "rebuy these old games you still have your original copies of or else we won't make the new one" strategy.