A new rumor claims that a Metroid Prime Trilogy port for the Switch is already complete -- but Nintendo is waiting for the right moment to release it.
On the latest episode of Giant Bomb's GrubbSnax podcast, video game journalist Jeff Grubb claimed that a source told him Nintendo has fully completed a version of Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Switch. The company is hanging on to the game, however, as they await a key moment to drop it. "The game is done and Nintendo is holding it," Grubb said. "I think Metroid Prime Trilogy is done and whether or not Nintendo releases it now or later depends on other factors."
Grubb went on to assure that it's not a lack of interest in the Metroid franchise that's holding back the game. Instead, Nintendo just wants to wait until they can find the most advantageous release date. "I think that game is sitting in their pocket for whenever Nintendo decides it’s the right time, and Nintendo’s done this a lot recently so it’s not unusual, it’s not a sign of some bad thing happening, it’s not a sign of a lack of faith in Metroid… Nintendo can afford [to sit on it] and that’s how they’re treating it."
While there's a shocking lack of Metroid games on the Switch, a new one is on the way. Metroid Dread, a game a decade in the making, is finally arriving later this year. While it will be a 2D platformer, it will introduce some new elements into the lore and also channel some of the energy of the Prime games thanks to EMMI, a frightening new enemy.
"I think a big problem for Nintendo for quite some time during the pandemic was QA… I think Nintendo was focusing its quality assurance resources on one or two big projects at a time and that meant that some games that were basically finished were sitting on the side, while they had their lockdown secure QA processes focused on one or two more important games," Grubb added. "Japan is still dealing with these issues so I don’t think those processes are going to open up any time soon."
Along with pandemic concerns and a separate Metroid game coming out, there's also the long-in-development Metroid Prime 4. While there's no word on when it will arrive, there's a good chance Nintendo could wait until it's on the horizon to release the prior three games on the Switch.
"The other factor for Metroid Prime Trilogy is that it’s definitely going to be a marketing beat for Metroid Prime 4, almost certainly," Grubb continued. "So right now, we’re getting Metroid Dread this year, and then I would imagine that Metroid Prime Trilogy is something they’ll release close to the release of Metroid Prime 4, whenever that is."
Nintendo previously re-released Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii in 2009.
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