Is Metroid Prime 4 “Basically Done”?

If there’s one thing that video gamers have been forced to learn, it’s patience. Why? They are sometimes promised video games that won’t come out for years, and they have to not only wait on updates but also hope that the developers/publishers deliver on what they promised. Just in 2023 alone, we had numerous titles that had been delayed, kept quiet for a long time, and so on come out and either wow or dismay gamers. It’s a vicious cycle. But when it comes to Metroid Prime 4, it’s a bit more confusing of a cycle, and most gamers know why.

You see, this was one of the first “big titles” announced for the Switch past its launch year. It was revealed in 2017 at E3 via a teaser trailer, and gamers were thrilled. Nintendo did warn that it wouldn’t be out soon, but the seed was planted. Fast forward a while, and gamers didn’t hear anything from Nintendo, which worried them. That was followed by Nintendo admitting that they had to “restart development of the game due to a lack of quality by the time hired to make it and that Retro Studios would be back on the franchise.

Since then, all we’ve heard were rumors about the game, which continues to now. An insider who has given accurate information in the past, Papa Genos, stated on his Discord, per Reddit, that Metroid Prime 4 was “basically done,” but there was one thing that was holding it back:

“The thing is I’ve heard prime4 is basically done and has been for a while, but the cutscenes are apparently really bad (or were a few months ago) so that’s what was delaying the game. I do believe it will be a switch title and not specifically made for the Switch 2 buuut maybe that’s changed at this point I haven’t heard. Just the fact I know it’s been ‘basically in a finished state’ for a while with the delay being related to needing to polish up the cutscenes had me hopeful we could see it soon.”

While this is a rumor and thus not proven, it would be very curious if this was the reason the game wasn’t out yet. After all, numerous games, including ones in 2023, have had nice cutscenes on the Nintendo Switch. So Retro would have to push the game rather hard to make them look “bad.”

Many have wondered if the title would be a launch game for the Switch successor, given how long it’s been in production. We’ll have to wait and see.