The highly anticipated Metroid Prime 4 has had a very difficult and long development road. Originally teased at E3 2017, the game has largely been kept under wraps by Nintendo. In fact, it wasn't until January 2019 when Nintendo confirmed that the game being rebooted and handed back to Retro Studios. Unfortunately, not much else in the way of news has come from Nintendo, though that trend may be coming to an end soon.
Based on new job descriptions that have appeared online and discovered by YouTuber doctre81, Retro Studios may in fact be outsourcing part of the development work on Metroid Prime 4. Based on a contract ad on LinkedIn, Retro Studios is looking to hire a temporary position for an Environment Outsourcing Review Artist. Essentially, this person would be responsible for reviewing outsourced work to make sure it is up to Retro's quality standards.
Based on the job title, it appears that at least a portion of the outsourced work is related to the environment. Based on additional duties, this position is able able to create and modify existing assets as needed, ensure ongoing timely feedback, and also testing levels in-game on the Switch console.
One thing to note here is that the job description never mentions Metroid Prime 4, so it is possible, however small, that the position could be for a different game the studio is working on. Although, outsourcing isn't uncommon for studios and the fact remains that one big benefit to this is that the development cycle for Metroid Prime 4 could be sped up a bit.
There's still so much fans have yet to learn about Metroid Prime 4, but if the outsourcing is accurate and related to the game then 2020 could be the year players have been waiting for. Retro Studios has a proven track record with this franchise and have even made a number of smart hires including Kyle Hefley, a nine year veteran developer at Microsoft's famed Halo studio, 343 Industries. Hefley has worked on each Halo game the studio has created, including the upcoming next generation Xbox title Halo Infinite.
Metroid Prime 4 is in development for Nintendo Switch.