For the past several years now, Metroid Prime 4 has been in active development with little to no signs of release. While other games like Bayonetta 3 have had similarly long development cycles, Metroid Prime 4 is a unique example, given that the initial development was scrapped and later handed over to Retro Studios. Now, it seems, Retro Studios is looking for new talent to help with the development of Metroid Prime 4.Earlier this month, the rebooted development of Metroid Prime 4 reached its 3 year anniversary with no clear signs of when the game will be shown off, let alone released. The lack of updates regarding Metroid Prime 4's development can feel disconcerting to some fans of the series, but Retro Studios' job postings tell a fairly different story.Over on Twitter, Retro Studios announced that the studio is looking to hire a Tools Engineer and a Technology Engineer. Both positions were confirmed to be in reference towards Metroid Prime 4. According to the job descriptions for each position, it seems that these two engineer positions are meant to help with optimize gameplay and performance on a technical scale.
This could potentially signify that Retro Studios is polishing Metroid Prime 4 to the point where it can finally be shown off to the general public. With E3 2022 rapidly approaching, it's possible that with the help with these two new engineer positions, Retro Studios may have something substantial to show fans of Metroid Prime 4 during E3.
It's important for expectant fans to note that like with previous entries in the Metroid Prime series, Metroid Prime 4 is likely an incredibly ambitious title, with a plethora of content for players to sink their teeth into. Therefore, the long period of development makes a lot of sense, especially considering how long it took Metroid Dread to officially release.
In any case, it will be interesting to see what ultimately becomes of the Metroid Prime series. While it has been confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 will release at some point, there have been rumors that a Switch remaster of the Metroid Prime series has also been in active development, in tandem with Metroid Prime 4. It would certainly be beneficial to release a remastered collection of the first three Metroid Prime titles along with Metroid Prime 4, especially for those that haven't played the original games.
Metroid Prime 4 is in development exclusively for Nintendo Switch.