Nintendo To Take More Risks With Prototypes

Have you been sat there wondering why Metroid Prime 4 is taking so long to be released? We certainly are. However, now we might finally have our answer, as it is supposedly ‘indicative of Nintendo and Japanese companies as whole’ to take their time. This is all according to former Retro Studios staffer Jack Matthews.

Matthews was the Lead Technical Engineer on the Metroid Prime trilogy, so we reckon he knows what he’s talking about. Recently, he spoke to the Kiwi Talkz podcast about their development. In this discussion, he talked about developing for a publisher in the West compared to Japan, pointing out that the Japanese are more likely to take risks with prototypes before full production. In his opinion, this is a much better way for the process to work.

“A lot of the way that deals get structured is that Western publishers want- when you’re going to do a prototype- they want to do an entire long-form agreement of the entire game before you start the prototype”.

“It ends up negating a lot of what you’re doing in the prototype anyway because you still have to figure out how much the whole thing is going to cost for this thing that you really don’t know much about”.

This shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise to be fair. Nintendo have always taken risks with prototypes, as many of the games are made by internal teams.

Matthews continued with his belief that this is something Western publishers should consider implementing

“Nintendo know that that’s the right way to go. It’s all about risk/ reward, where you put your risk and where you see your reward”.

Adversely, western publishers don’t tend to trust developers as much, and are often scared that a developer could disband with a prototype and use another publisher. Is there no trust in the industry nowadays? These are some quite strong opinions from Matthews, but who are we to judge. A veteran in the industry, he clearly knows what he’s talking about. Additionally, it’s ideal that we start to mention what exactly we know about Metroid Prime 4. Check out the trailer down below

Everything We Know About Nintendo’s Metroid Prime 4

Metroid Prime 4 is an upcoming video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was announced during an online showcase at E3 2017, and was reportedly initially developed by Bandai Namco Studios

Here’s a quick little summary:

What is it? A brand new Metroid Prime game
What can I play it on? Nintendo Switch
When can I play it? No release date just yet, but don’t expect it for a while

Straight to the point, right? Unfortunately, that’s all we really know at the moment. Obviously, the game will be a FPS shooter, but in terms of story there’s not much to go on. Come back here when we have more details. In the meantime, check out this article explaining what else could be on the horizon for Metroid fans. Similarly, have a look at all the best Nintendo games we have to offer here!