The development of Nintendo and Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime 4 is already complete, and the delay is due to cutscenes, based on the latest rumor.
A known leaker of Nintendo related news who goes by the name of PapeGenos on social media shared on Discord that, as per his sources, the development Metroid Prime 4 has been complete since some time, and that the delay is due to unfinished cutscenes.
According to PapaGenos, the state of Metroid Prime 4’s cutscenes “really bad”, or was a few months ago, and this is what is essentially delaying the game. He believes Samus’ latest adventure will be a Nintendo Switch title and not one that is specifically being developed for its successor, the Switch 2. Though, he mentioned that plans may have changed since he last heard about it.
Given that Metroid Prime 4 has been in a finished state for a while outside of cutscenes, he is hopeful that the game may be revealed to the public sometime soon. Though, he added that, so far, he has heard nothing about what Nintendo may be showcasing at The Game Awards 2023.
Speaking of The Game Awards 2023, it was recently revealed during during a Q&A session that this year’s show will feature a higher number of brand new game reveals compared to past shows. It’s due to this reason that producer and host Geoff Keighley is teasing fewer games ahead of the event this time around. The show is scheduled to happen on December 7, 2023, at 19:30 ET / 16:30 PT, which is 01:30 CET in Europe, so fans won’t have to wait long to find out whether Metroid Prime 4 will make an appearance.
Metroid Prime 4 was first revealed at E3 2017 and was initially being developed by Bandai Namco Enetertainment. However, in January 2019, development was rebooted under Retro Studios, the developer behind the earlier Metroid Prime games. Kensuke Tanabe, a producer on the initial Prime games, also returned to work on the project.