Eurogamer has confirmed the rumors that Bandai Namco, specifically Bandai Namco Studios Singapore, is in charge of developing Metroid Prime 4 for the Nintendo Switch.
Development of this latest installment in the beloved Metroid Prime series will be a partnership between the Bandai Namco team and Nintendo‘s in-house developers.
Ever since Nintendo revealed that a follow-up to the critically-acclaimed trilogy was in the works during their E3 2017 video presentation, there was talk among the press and gaming enthusiasts at large about which studio would be developing the title. Nintendo only said that Retro Studios, the creators of the original series, was not going to be making the game.
The rumors of Bandai Namco working on Metroid Prime 4 cropped up from job descriptions within the company posted on LinkedIn. Eurogamer dug into the Bandai Namco Studios Singapore staff member profiles for more clues, which eventually pointed the publication to a lead designer that was apparently assigned to an “unannounced IP (first person shooter/adventure exclusive to the Nintendo Switch)”.
The Eurogamer report also mentions that development for Metroid Prime 4 is still in its early days, and that its release shouldn’t be expected anytime this year.