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Metroid Prime 4 development scrapped as Retro Studios takes over

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Nintendo has released a video announcing that development on Metroid Prime 4 is restarting with Retro Studios taking the helm.

This is not the Nintendo Direct we were looking for. Nintendo has released a video via YouTube confirming that development of the eagerly anticipated Switch game, Metroid Prime 4, has started again from scratch.

In the video, Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi says that the game’s “current development progress has not reached the standard we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series.”

As a result, producer Kensuke Tanabe will work “in trust” with Retro Studios, the original developers of the Metroid Prime series, to restart work on the game.

“We did not make this decision lightly,” says Takahashi. “This change will essentially mean restarting development from the beginning, so the completion of the game will be delayed from our initial internal plan.”

Sensing millions of voices suddenly crying out in terror, Takahashi adds, “I’d like to extend my deepest, heart-felt apologies to everyone that the launch will be delayed. It will be a long road until the next time we will be able to update you on the development progress, and development time will be extensive. However, we will continue developing the game so that when it is completed, it will stand shoulder to shoulder with past Metroid Prime titles.”

Although this is disappointing news for fans, the Metroid series can ill-afford another misfire following the lukewarm response to Metroid Other M in 2010, and the furore that surrounded Metroid Prime: Federation Force in 2016.

In the meantime, Metroid: Samus Returns for Nintendo 3DS is an enjoyable and worthwhile experience, and we remain hopeful that an HD reissue of the Metroid Prime Trilogy will make its way to Switch in the not too distant future.

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