A new Nintendo job listing hints that development on Metroid Prime 4 is moving along. If the listing is indeed for Metroid Prime 4, its developers may have something new to show to the public in the not-too-distant future.
Metroid Prime 4 was one of the earlier games Nintendo announced for the Nintendo Switch, back at E3 2017. The news came as a major thrill to fans of the Metroid Prime trilogy, hailed by many as one of the greatest game franchise retools of all time. Unfortunately, the next few years brought disappointing news. Nintendo announced in early 2019 that the game’s development had been completely scrapped and restarted under Retro Studios, creators of the original Metroid Prime games. Neither Nintendo nor Retro Studios have provided a substantial update since regarding the game, leaving fans to speculate what is taking place behind the scenes.
The new listing, which comes from Nintendo’s website, requests a “Product Tester” for Retro Studios. A major part of the job will be to “Develop and execute test plans to confirm developer requirements and discover defects in pre-released software.” Although not identified by name, the “pre-released software” in question is almost surely Metroid Prime 4. Of course, in order to be a tester, one needs to have something to test, and this suggests the struggle to get Metroid Prime 4 going may finally be over.
There are a few factors that suggest a major announcement is, unfortunately, not imminent. For one, if Retro is hiring testers for the near future, then there may not be anything to test quite yet. It’s worth noting that Retro posted a listing for a lead producer back in August, suggesting that the main team behind the game is not yet fully formed. At the very least, Retro has brought veteran game developers from major franchises like Grand Theft Auto into the fold in recent months, so when the game does begin to move along, it will have some real talent behind it.
Another hint that development is still very early on comes from fellow Nintendo subsidiary Monolith Soft, creator of the Xenoblade games. In mid-2019, Monolith Soft hired staff to help make upcoming Xenoblade and Legend of Zelda games. Unlike the Retro listing, however, Monolith Soft clearly communicated that it was working on games in both franchises. The Retro listing doesn’t even have an image of any kind. This may possibly be because there simply isn’t any art tied to Metroid Prime 4 yet, or that nothing about the game is stable enough to share at the moment.
To be fair, long development cycles can lead to great games, even if the wait is hard for fans to bear. Some of the most cherished games of all time, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, suffered frequent delays and long periods without major news updates. Hopefully, Retro Studios will take the time it needs to pull together a great team, and put out a sequel that meets or surpasses the trilogy that preceded it.
Metroid Prime 4 is currently in development.
Source: Careers.nintendo.com
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