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The latest financial report from Nintendo has been released, and alongside some very positive news regarding Switch 2 sales, has come a non-inclusion that has fans a little concerned.
The sales numbers for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond were notably not listed amongst Nintendo’s list of games that have surpassed 1 million copies sold, leading to questions about its performance. The game did admittedly launch in December and, as such, would lead to limits on the sales at this time.
It is also important to note that this game did sell across Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, so as the sales figures relate to only one console, the total sales numbers could be skewed.
However, there are available numbers for Kirby Air riders, which was launched a few weeks prior on November 20. While this does not invalidate the above theory, it once again makes the absence of this release all the more conspicuous.
A creeping dread
The worry here for fans is that the lack of success for this Metroid release could be the last nail in the coffin, at least as far as Metroid Prime is concerned. Aside from sales, the reception to this latest Prime game has been divisive.
While Giant Bomb has lauded the game as “The best Switch 2 title yet,” other outlets like Metro GameCentral have slammed the game as “Almost exactly what fans didn’t want from a new Metroid Prime”.
The most likely narrative is how the continued delays for the game clouded ideas for the team. In speaking with Famitsu, the development team admitted they foresaw the worries surrounding certain ideas, saying, “In the end, the game took much longer than expected to finish, and we realized that players’ impressions toward open-world games had changed.”
While the Prime series may be set to take another extended hiatus, however, with the success of games like Metroid dread it is unlikely that Samus and Metroid as a series will be missing from Nintendo hardware anytime soon.
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