A listing for Metroid Prime 4 has appeared on the Canadian Best Buy website with a $100 price tag. This same listing shows a placeholder Metroid Prime 4 release date of December 30, 2020, leading to speculation that the sequel could receive a stealth release by the end of the year.
Metroid Prime 4 has been in development for some time. A listing from a Czech retailer hinted that it could come out before the end of 2019, but Nintendo later made a rare and surprising announcement: it was “not satisfied with the quality” of the game and subsequently announced a delay. However, a new listing has placed its release date in 2020, along with an inflated price tag.
Will the Metroid Prime 4 release date be in 2020?
A retail listing on Best Buy’s Canadian website (via Reddit) shows a Metroid Prime 4 release date of December 30, 2020, and a high price tag of $99.99. This is likely a placeholder listing, but the fact that the game has been listed at all is curious, especially with Nintendo’s recent actions in the last year.
Back in August, Nintendo made the surprising announcement that it would be releasing Pikmin 3 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch in roughly three months; this game will be coming out on October 30, 2020. Roughly one month later, the Japanese gaming company announced several Super Mario games such as Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario Bros. 35, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit; all of these games were released within two months and are now available for players to enjoy.
Nintendo typically announces its games several months to several years in advance. However, the 2020 pandemic has thrown a wrench in everybody’s plans, Nintendo included; it appears that the challenges of the last year may have caused the company to announced and subsequently launch some of its biggest releases within a comparatively short timeframe. With a little more than two months remaining in the year, it is unlikely that Metroid Prime 4 will launch this year, though there is still the possibility that this placeholder is indicative of a surprise release for the FPS.
