Metroid Prime 4 adds Crysis 3 and Epic Mickey developers to the project

Retro Studios has added two game designers to the development of Metroid Prime 4, with credits on Crysis 3, DC Universe Online, Epic Mickey, and New Super Lucky’s Tale between them (via VGC).

Announced at E3 2017, the sequel to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has had a time of it. Bandai Namco Studios was said to be steering the project, which was “well into development” and “proceeding well” throughout 2018. It didn’t appear at that year’s E3, but that was because Nintendo wanted to be sure that the game would “wow people” once it got its proper reveal. Then, the publisher admitted that Metroid Prime 4 would be scrapped and started again from scratch, with the developer of the original Metroid games in charge. Reboot Studios has since been seeking animators, an art director, artists, designers, and engineers to help out on the project.

Its latest hires are Mark Capers and James Beech, and they will fill the roles of environment designers for the upcoming action-adventure game. Capers was a designer on Epic Mickey, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, and New Super Lucky’s Tale. Fellow former Playful Corp developer Stephen Dupree is the principal game designer at Retro Studios, and VGC understands that there are a handful of former Junction Point Studios employees working on Metroid Prime 4. 

Beech is credited on Crysis 3, DC Universe Online, and Eternal Darkness 2—the ill-fated sequel to the psychological horror title on the GameCube. The company is still looking to secure a number of empty positions for the development of the new game, and we’re yet to get an update on its progression since January 2019. No news can be good news, though.