A new insider report claims Metroid Prime 4 is nearly finished, but unexpected issues behind the scenes might be holding things up.
It’s been a long road for Metroid Prime 4. The game was first announced way back in 2017, and after a full restart in development under Retro Studios in 2019, fans have been waiting, patiently and not-so-patiently, for anything concrete. Nintendo finally showed off gameplay during a June 2024 Direct, rebranding the title as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and confirming a 2025 release window.
Since then, though, things have been quiet. We did get another look at the game during a Nintendo Direct in March 2025, which showed new footage and again stated it’s “coming 2025.” But even after that, Nintendo hasn’t revealed an exact release date, which has naturally led to speculation about whether the game might slip into 2026.
And now, a new report from a known insider offers a look at what might be going on behind the curtain.
Retro Reportedly Working Through Complicated Development Problems
The update comes from content creator and insider KiwiTalkz, who shared a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today, explaining what he knows, or believes, about the current status of Metroid Prime 4’s development. According to him, Retro Studios has run into some serious issues, which he refers to as “anomalies.”
“Basically, Metroid Prime 4 hit a snag. Now I am going to refer to this snag as an ‘Anomaly,'” he said. “All of Retro’s previous games, dating back to Prime 1, have run into issues with this anomaly, but the anomaly was slightly different each time; however, the anomaly this time is a lot more severe than in previous games, and it’s compounded by a second anomaly that seeped into the first.”
He doesn’t go into specific technical details, likely to avoid trouble or adding fuel to online speculation, but he makes it clear that the problems are more serious than what Retro has dealt with in the past. He also says he isn’t sure if these issues have been resolved yet. “As of the timing of this post, I am unsure if these anomalies have been resolved,” the post reads.
KiwiTalkz insists this isn’t about crunch, layoffs, or bad management, just the usual unpredictable challenges that can happen when making a game this complex. He also claims the game is “extremely close to being done,” but Nintendo is holding off on sharing more until things are fully locked in.
He believes they’re being extra cautious to avoid another situation where the game gets shown too early and then pushed back again. “Because the game isn’t finished (I must stress, it’s extremely close to being done), they don’t want to show too much of i,t and then it gets delayed again!”
He points out that if the game gets officially rated in Germany, that’s a sign it’s truly done, since their process requires 100% completion, unlike South Korea’s, which only requires about 95%.
KiwiTalkz also brought up the Metroid Prime 4 mural that appeared in a London train station earlier this year. The artwork said “OUT NOW,” even though the game hadn’t launched. It caused a brief wave of excitement and confusion online.
According to him, it might’ve been a leftover from an older marketing plan, back when the game was expected to release sooner, possibly as a launch window title for the Switch 2.
As always with reports like this, take everything with a grain of salt. And if true, it sounds like Metroid Prime 4 is getting the time and care it needs to land properly, whenever it does arrive.
What do you think is going on with Metroid Prime 4 behind the scenes? Do you believe it’ll make 2025, or are we in for a longer wait? Let us know your thoughts.
