Retro Studios debuted in a big way with the critically-acclaimed Metroid Prime in 2002, and since then, the studio has been one of Nintendo's premiere first-party studios. However, Retro hasn't released a new game since 2014's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Wii U, and fans have been wondering what's next from the studio. While we still aren't quite sure what Retro Studios is working on, there is reason to believe that we will find out later this year.

According to supposed industry-insider Marcus Sellars, the next game from Retro Studios will be announced in 2018. Further details on what the project is are unavailable at this time, but Sellars claims that the game is in development for the Nintendo Switch.

Fans should still take this claim with a grain of salt, but Sellars now has a lot more credibility than other supposed leakers of video game news. Over the past few days, some claims made by Sellars have been verified by other sources, such as Metroid Prime 4 being co-developed by Bandai Namco and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 being the 2018 entry in the series. Considering this, it's a little easier to believe him when he says Retro's new game will be announced this year.

So, what exactly is the new game from Retro Studios? We know that the studio is not working on Metroid Prime 4, and the other only franchises it has worked with are Mario Kart and Donkey Kong. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe released for Switch just last year, and a Mario Kart mobile game is coming in 2019, so yet another game in the long-running racing series seems unlikely.

As for Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is being ported to the Switch this coming May. It's possible that the Tropical Freeze port is meant to tide fans over until the next Donkey Kong Country from Retro Studios is finished, but perhaps Retro is working to revive another Nintendo IP entirely.

Then again, maybe Retro Studios is working on a brand new IP. A couple of years ago, there were reports that Retro was working on an original game instead of Donkey Kong or Metroid, so that does seem like a distinct possibility.

At this point, Retro Studios could be working on almost anything, so hopefully Marcus Sellars is telling the truth and we learn more about the project later this year.