Nintendo restarts Metroid Prime 4 development

Nintendo has decided to start from scratch with the development of Metroid Prime 4. The company believes that the current process does not meet the quality requirements. Retro Studios, known for the previous Metroid Prime games, will join the new development process.

Shinya Takahashi, head of one of Nintendo’s management teams, explains why the development is under review in a development update video. Takahashi does not provide specific examples, but does emphasize that “the current process does not meet the requirements of a Metroid Prime sequel.”

As part of the new process, producer Kensuke Tanabe will partner with Retro Studios. This would initially not cooperate with MP4. Nintendo had partnered with Bandai Namco rather than Retro Studios. Whether this means that Bandai Namco will no longer participate in the development of MP4 is not clear.

Metroid Prime 4 was first announced at E3 2017, via a teaser. Since then, there have been almost no updates on the game and its development.