At E3 2017, Nintendo finally announced Metroid Prime 4, and even though it only showed the game's logo, it still managed to excite fans of the franchise. Nearly two years later and we still haven't seen more of the game, and as it turns out, there's a reason for that. According to Nintendo executive Shinya Takahashi, the reason we haven't seen more of Metroid Prime 4 since its E3 2017 announcement is because the game's development has not been going well.

"Although this is very regrettable - we must let you know that the current development progress has not reached the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series," Takahashi said in a development update video for the game. Because Nintendo didn't feel confident that Metroid Prime 4 in its current state would be able to deliver a game that lived up to the legacy of the previous Metroid Prime titles, it has decided to completely restart development from the beginning with a different studio.

As revealed by Takahashi, Metroid Prime 4 has restarted development at Retro Studios, the studio that developed the previous Metroid Prime games. While fans of the franchise will be happy to see Retro return to the helm, they may be upset to learn that this means it will likely be years before the game is actually finished, as Takahashi indicated that the project is being started from scratch.

This announcement has a couple of things to take into consideration. One, it means that if the leaked retail release date for Metroid Prime 4 was accurate, then Nintendo decided to scrap it very deep into the game's development. Secondly, it means that the Nintendo Switch will potentially have a content gap later this year, and thirdly, it leaves one to wonder what will happen to the project Retro has been working on all these years.

Since it launched Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in 2014, it's unlikely that Retro Studios was just sitting around doing nothing. Presumably, the studio had a new game in development for the Switch, and fans have been waiting ages to see any sign of the project. It's possible that Retro's new focus on Metroid Prime 4 means its current project has been shelved, though hopefully Retro will still be able to put out whatever it's been working on for nearly five years at this point.

In the meantime, one has to wonder if this will damage the relationship between Nintendo and Bandai Namco. While it was never confirmed, reports indicated that Bandai Namco was developing Metroid Prime 4 with Nintendo's collaboration, and if true, it could cause Nintendo to be weary about working with the company on future projects.

Metroid Prime 4 is in development for the Nintendo Switch.