Beyond Had the Help of More than 20 Studios

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here, and it took the work of more than 20 studios to make it a reality. It’s been 18 years since the last mainline Metroid Prime game, and eight years since Nintendo first announced the latest title, a gap that has been full of delays and development changes. Now that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has released into the world, it’s become evident that it took a considerable effort to push it across the finish line.

It’s hard to overstate the excitement and anticipation behind Nintendo and Retro Studio’s latest title. While Metroid Prime 4‘s reviews fall short of its predecessors, it’s still receiving plenty of praise and has almost a decade’s worth of waiting behind it after its long and quiet dev cycle. Only time will tell if Beyond meets most players’ expectations of the series, which is admittedly a high bar to clear, given how beloved the first three Metroid Prime games are, but however things turn out, the game’s reception won’t be solely Retro’s achievement.

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All Development Studios Listed in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s Credits

Retro Studios
Next Level Games
Virtuos
Territory Studio
Waterproof
Keywords Studios
Liquid Development
Volta
AMC Studio
GameSim
Smoking Gun Interactive
Forge Studios
Red Hot CG
Original Force
Devoted Studios
Room 8 Studio
Next Gen Dreams
Mock Science
Cup of Tea
Formosa Interactive
House of Moves

As spotted by Nintendo Life, Metroid Prime 4‘s credits thank 21 development companies, not including individual contractors. Notably, that list omits Bandai Namco, which Nintendo had originally pegged to develop the game. However, NIntendo handed development of Metroid Prime 4 to Retro Studios in 2019, giving control back to the Prime series’ original developer. While it would take a long while for Metroid Prime 4 to come out, it’s now clear Retro was far from alone in the effort to rework the game into something that meets the expectations of fans and Nintendo.

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There are a few notable names on Metroid Prime 4‘s laundry list of devs. Virtuos has gained quite the reputation over the past few years for its work on popular remasters like Oblivion Remastered and Metal Gear Solid Delta. The company also landed in some controversy when it came out that the Oblivion Remastered developer was laying off up to 300 people, equal to roughly 7% of its workforce. It’s unclear if these layoffs happened before or after the studio’s work on Metroid Prime 4 or if any developers involved in the game were affected. Next Level Games, which developed the two most recent Luigi’s Mansion games and the Mario Strikers series, also contributed to Beyond.

This isn’t Next Level’s first involvement in the Metroid Prime franchise, either. It also developed Metroid Prime: Federation Force. While many do not consider Federation Force one of the best Metroid Prime games, it still left the studio with familiarity with the franchise. Overall, it may be surprising to see such a long list of teams in Metroid Prime 4‘s credits, but such large-scale development is becoming increasingly common. As games become more complex, turning to outside studios and independent contractors for help is a natural step in finishing a title on time.