It has been five long years since the reboot of Metroid Prime 4

The methods by which Nintendo announces and releases its games have been very efficient in recent years. The majority of the company’s main software products have been released within a few months of the first announcement, with the exception being Tears of the Kingdom.

But Metroid Prime 4 is a different story. Game production was restarted precisely five years ago, with a statement broadcast on Nintendo’s YouTube channel on January 25, 2019, from Shinya Takahashi of Nintendo EPD (thanks, Stealth). The first announcement was made on June 13, 2017, approximately seven years ago.

Takahashi made the following claims:

“We must let you know that the current development progress has not reached the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series. Nintendo always strives for the highest quality in our games; and in the development phase, we challenge ourselves and confront whether the game is living up to that quality on a daily basis. If we’re not satisfied with the quality, we aren’t able to deliver it to our customers with confidence, and the game will not live up to our fans’ expectations.”

According to him, producer Kensuke Tanabe would eventually team up with Retro Studios, the company that created the Metroid Prime games. Prior to this, rumours circulated that Bandai Namco Studios was developing the game, but Nintendo never officially acknowledged this.

At the time of writing, Metroid Prime 4’s release date is still ‘TBA’. Like many others, we are starting to wonder whether Nintendo has the game in mind for the Switch’s eventual replacement; however, we will have to wait for confirmation from the company.

Today, tomorrow, at any moment… Just do it, Nintendo.