Gaming interviewer KiwiTalkz ,who has a close relationship with some team members at Retro Studios, has posted some new Metroid Prime 4 information which has handily been summed up by Reddit user DrAwesomeX. One of the highlights is that KiwiTalkz says that the reason why Metroid Prime 4 was announced so early is due to fan reception around the ill-fated Metroid: Federation Force which Nintendo thought could sink the franchise. Nintendo apparently wanted to affirm faith in the beloved series by announcing Metroid Prime 4, despite it being in very early development at the time.
- Metroid Prime 4 (the Retro version, NOT the original) was originally intended to be a cross-gen launch window title for Switch 2, akin to that of BOTW (he specifically states launch window, NOT launch day title)
- Believes Donkey Kong Bananza might have, ”switched places,” in terms of development to compensate with MP4 being pushed back, further claiming MP4 was intended for Q4
- Claims MP4 hit yet another snag in development, but doesn’t go into detail beyond it not involving anything too major, and that it didn’t have anything to do with crunch, layoffs, or bad management.
- Claims the marketing has been off because of these snags in development
- Claims MP4 was announced as early as it was due to the reception Federation Force garnered, with Nintendo wanting fans to know they still cared about the franchise (this is even odder because in the same tweet he literally says “They (Nintendo) don’t react to fan outcry, they just block out the noise,” so idk why Federation Force, of all games, would be been the exception)
- He reiterates again MP4 still isn’t done, and claims a Germany ratings board somehow means the game is 100% done, unlike South Korea (his words not mine)
- Compares the development of MP4 to Rockstar’s treatment of GTA VI
- Still has no clue whether or not the game will be delayed to 2026, but he believes it may come out November 2025
