Metroid Prime 4 Dev Retro Studios Hires Battlefield, Tomb Raider And Borderlands Artists

I don’t mind waiting longer for this one. Make it good!

Playing it cool this is still a few years away 2022 October my guess x x

Can’t wait to play this in 2025!

A company like Retro expanding and hiring new talent is always promising. These guys certainly should grow a bigger team and work on potential new concepts.

Who knows, maybe this could mean Retro can work on multiple games at once?

@Dragonslacker1 I might go a bit longer even, mid 2023 say

Cool that they're having Dupree back. I hope he's excited about making Metroid. Ten years ago, a good few handfuls of their best artists had trouble moving the other way, from Metroid to Donkey Kong. ^^

@Dragonslacker1
@ZeldaNX
This is the heavy cavalry of effects and spit-shine. I'm guessing Retro's in the process of finalizing look development, and finetuning the production pipeline. Two more years until release sounds reasonable.

@Varkster
Let's hope they're not just developing more concepts Nintendo can axe. :-/

@Pod I don't think it's ever been explicitly mentioned that Nintendo has axed their projects or limited their creativity. If anything I believe the contrary to be the case as how the history with Metroid Prime, and later Donkey Kong Country went.

If anything I believe the lack of focus and internal struggles within Retro as a company is much more plausible.

I think we would have seen something if E3 had gone ahead, maybe even have had the game this year but I think it will be 2021 now. As with Animal Crossing though, it's better to wait a bit longer and get the perfect game than have it arrive too early and be flawed forever. After the pandemic, I think people are a bit more understanding.

@Pod@andykara2003 I do wonder how this will turn out and what will be “ new” in this Metroid 4. Nintendo with there franchises this gen like botw and odyssey seem to be just throw as much content in as possible which is great. I wonder what they will do in 4 . Exploring multiple planets like 3 and have them larger? More customisable gear? Gonna be interesting ! X x x

If nothing else, it'll be worth the wait....

Surprised they're allowed to hire anyone given how little return they seem to have contributed over the past 5 years (not that I really know this to be true obvs).

I'm a simple man (Sith).

I see an image of Samus; I click.

@gcunit developing a big AAA and shipping a port that sold millions not enough? Retro is Nintendo, they aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. This news is actually a good indicator that the current project is going to make some big money

It will be an amazing game.

@gcunit With over 2 million sales of DK:TF on Switch, that game alone probably paid for whatever project got scrapped prior to this. And quite frankly, Nintendo's lost too many development partners in the past decade to let any more go to the wayside. They need more development teams, not less.

@Savino Almost certainly not. If VFX is the priority at the moment we're looking at between 1.5 and 2.5 years until release if all goes well. That's highly likely to be at worst a simultaneous dual release, but most likely prior to the next console's release.

I am more than happy to wait to give this time to be the masterpiece that metroid deserves, but a port of the trilogy would make the wait so much easier. Just give us some more information!

Do they have anyone working there that worked on Metroid Prime though?

Hopefully this is an indication it’ll be the best Metroid since Echoes came out.

Please take your time Retro and make a truly magnificent game worthy of the name. MP1 and 2 were unbelievable. MP3 was more of the same with an awesome new control scheme. MP4 to take it up a level like BoTW/SMO/AC:NH? Yes please.

This is going to be incredible. Nintendo are really doing their best to make this another killer app for the Switch. Can't wait.

You know what, if this gets developed for and launches with pro Switch/ Switch2 / New Switch / Switch U / Super Switch / Switch Ultra / whatever Switch I won’t mind because it’ll mean we’ll be in for an awesome epic next gen Metroid.

This’ll be the Zelda Breath of the Wild cross-gen game, I think.

@Dragonslacker1 I have to say I'm wondering if this might not confirm the game as a 2021 release rather than 2022. The artists seem to be specifically the kind involved for special effects/etc that would come late in development rather than "early". You don't make those effects unless the mechanics/stuff they're meant for is already in place and you just need to start replacing placeholder "coder art" used during most of development(that might have been going for a while) with the real thing that'll be in the final game.

At least from what little I know.

I'll write this as a "cautiously optimistic" kind of thing on my end that this might not be as bad as we think.

This game is going to be incredible.

@Rodan2000 I wouldn't worry THAT badly.

Yes these are "new hires", which means the game isn't completed yet. But what's interesting is the nature of these hires:

"As spotted by VGC, the Texas-based developer has brought on a number of new VFX artists - the people responsible for the visual aspect of special effects like explosions, lasers, fire, and the like. "

If you think about it, "special effects like explosions, laser, fire and the like" might means the game is farther ahead than we think. That's not something people worry about(as far as I know) early in development when they haven't yet written the code/etc for mechanics meant to later involve such effects.

Rather it's stuff that's finally called upon when a lot of this has already been coded/implemented and they're planning to finally move away from the placeholder "coder art" they'd been using all along for testing during development and finally replace it with the "real deal" that should be used in the final version of the game.

I could be wrong, but them making a call for such artists(rather than programmers/etc and so on) make me feel they might be surprisingly farther along than we think.

I don't think it'll be a 2020 release nonetheless, but it just might be a 2021 release, perhaps even an early 2021 one. 2022 at the likely latest. I could be wrong, but re:reading the kind of folks they're hiring is making me cautiously optimistic.

So, what I understand is that we'll all be grand parents before we get to actually see a gameplay trailer for MP4, right?

I have a feeling we won’t be getting MP4 on Switch but perhaps as a launch title for the next Nintendo system in the pipeline..

Gah- I hope this doesn’t become the next Duke Nukem Forever- long development cycle, constant rewrites and restarts and finally a completely limp release overall...

@NoNoseNosferatu I hope switch has some sort of "smart delivery " so I don't have to rebuy all my games and have my botw wit my metroid

@RickD Dunno. I'll be cautiously optimistic with this , to be honest.

"What they're still hiring???" could indeed make one think the game still is barely started.... but if you look at it, the folks hired are all special effect artists. Not coders, not level designers or even 3D modellers/texture artists but effects ones.

I feel that's notable because in game development I'm under the impression that special effects is actually an aspect that would be come not early but late in development. When most of the code is written for weapons that will use projectile effects and when level are already mostly complete for them to put fire/atmospheric effects into in the first place.

Literally, I could be wrong but you call on these artists only when all that stuff is already coded into the game to finally replace the placeholder "coder art" that was use to prototype it with the real thing.

So rather than "this is much farther away than we expected", this might perhaps even imply a "this is coming closer than we expect".

I'm not expecting a 2020 release out of this yet, but I could actually picture a early 2021 one now.

@sixrings yeah- that would be neat if we could port all our past purchases on Switch to the new Nintendo IP with little to no extra cost.

I remember having a few games on my PS3
and having them brought over to the PS4 when I logged in with my PSN ID, it was a very happy surprise.

@Crockin Not only that, but if you look closely the news might imply they're farther along than we think.

What they're hiring is not level designers, or coders or even character modellers.... but actual special effects for like... weapon laser , ambient fire, etc.

That's not the "roots" of a game but it's "dressing". The stuff you start laying about only when the full cake is already mostly ready when you finally move from the "coder art" placeholder you'd been using to test mechanics/etc for the real deal that should be present in the final version of the game.

So I suspect that rather than showing us there's still years left in the development of the game, it might rather be months and then the final playtesting/etc bit. I'm not sure of myself yet to say it's gonna be a 2020 release, but I'll be cautiously optimistic enough this might have just confirmed it to likely be an early 2021. And a 2022 one at the very very latest.

Also- I hope they rehire Andrew Android Jones to be lead game artist and creature/character/worlds designer.

The man’s portfolio from the previous games and beyond are incredibly stunning!

To see them in a proper high definition format and on the go, would be absolutely spectacular indeed!!

Wow my hype level suddenly exploded!!

@Ludovsky Let's say covid is not a factor; I think late 2021 or march 2022 sounds about right. My bet is Zelda 2021, metroid 2022. The switch is so healthy, I highly doubt we'll see a new console or whatever is next until ~2024, so I don't think this will be a next gen situation.

@NoNoseNosferatu I'd hate to have bought Mario Kart on Wii u just to rebuy it on switch just to rebuy it on the next system. Nintendo knows how to take my money.

well it's gonna look nice that's for sure

Will release when Nintendo announces Their new hardware after the switch.

@Crockin Yeah. Tbh even nintendo themselves had recently mentionned in investor meeting iirc that the Switch was just entering the middle of it's life cycle. After three years, that might thus another good three more years for a potential full cycle of 6 years as a result.

@Varkster
Their initial three new IPs they were pitching when Nintendo bought them never amounted to anything. And recently we heard of two other pitches that one of the leads were doubting whether anyone senior at Nintendo had even looked at.

I'm not trying to put all the blame on Nintendo as if they're being brutally unfair in some way. I'm just genuinely concerned about very skilled people wasting too much of their time on projects that never amount to anything, which, I know, is stardard fare in most of the creative industry.

@Dragonslacker1
I wasn't exactly a fan of how they did things in 3, in terms of gameplay pacing. Slightly too on-rails and set-piece-y for my tastes.
But most of all, I feel the Phazon/Dark Samus story-setting is tired and done and over with, and I don't want to see any more of it.

I'm hoping they really change things up with this one. The number "4" may have been a big part of the reveal, but ideally I'd see it done away with entirely. ^^

@Rodan2000 late 2021 or 2022 is the safe bet for it to release.

@Pod prime 4 is still going to have dark samus in it they wouldnt call it prime 4 for nothing.

@RiasGremory
Oh yeah, that's why I'm saying I hope they drop the 4, so they can call it Metroid Prime: Something Something, like Nintendo does with many of its other franchises.

No complaints here! Retro picking up more talent seems to indicate that they're pulling out all the stops for their current projects. At least some of these hires have gotta be related to a certain Metroid game.

@Dragonslacker1 "I wonder what they will do in 4 . Exploring multiple planets like 3 and have them larger? More customisable gear?"

I sure hope not. Larger zones, yes, but the planet jumping and overall structure of MP3 was lame and, to me, ran counter to the soul of Metroid. I hope they go back to the claustrophobic feel of past titles. "Open world"? Please no.

Also really hope they put a lot of focus on the music. That's another area where MP3 fell down hard. Even MP2 was a bit lackluster. Music is hugely important for me, so I hope they give it the right amount of attention. I remember reading an interview a while back with Jeremy Soule (of Elder Scrolls fame, and Guild Wars 2, and others) where he said the franchise he most wanted to do the music for is Metroid. I highly doubt Nintendo will take him up on it, but I sure hope I'm wrong. Would be a-ma-zing to hear what he would come up with.

I know it is to early to tell since we haven't seen anything, but I have a feeling Nintendo really want to do it right this time (after the federation force debacle). I do hope they show something this year, so we can rest easily.

Really cant wait to see this awesome game, just finished Metroid Zero mission and Fusion. Look amazing upscaled up on Retron 5

Wow that’s some pedigree talent. I’m glad Nintendo isn’t resting on this one.

I've been patiently waiting for a new Prime release, and will continue to. After what we've seen of Nintendo quality this gen, I feel confident this game will be epic.

With all this talent involved in the development of Metroid Prime 4, this game is going to be the best Metroid game ever when it release, Retro Studios take all the time you need to make the most perfect Metroid Prime and Metroid game ever, we can wait.

So many names, so many artist, so little gameplay details. Wake me in a couple years...

Been waiting for this game for an extremely long time, and I still have it on pre-order at Best Buy even from last year. Take as long as you need to make it bad a**. Follow the classic suite and please don’t modernize this with all the bloat, childish graphics, and micro-purchase bs... I’ll buy at least 5 copies for myself if it’s good! One last comment, don’t overlook the music as this is a very important aspect of this game. Cheers!!! m/