Nintendo and Retro on the Rocks?

Apr. 29 4:47 PM by Lynxara

Something's amiss at Retro Studios, the developer that's worked with Nintendo to produce the fan-favorite Metroid Prime games.

On April 23, Shacknews reported that three key Metroid Prime staffers had been fired and were escorted "off the premises": design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Mathews.

This immediately sparked rumors that Retro Studios was about to be closed down, which famed internet rumormonger Surfer Girl had already hinted at in a post going back to April 20. Nintendo debunked rumors of a closure to website CVG on April 24, stating:

"We still continue to work alongside the team at Retro and no official announcements as to its status have been made. All existing reports are rumour and speculation."

This wasn't the last of strange headlines about Retro Studios and Metroid Prime. Hit the cut to catch up on the rest.

On April 27, GoNintendo posted up a plausible-sounding rumor regarding a Wii game called Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Word has it that a certain retailer had a SKU pop up in their computer systems for a Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii. What could this title be? Well, I would expect it to be Prime 1, [2], and 3 all on the Wii&but Prime 1 and 2 with all-new Wiimote controls. I love Metroid, but I really dont know if I would buy something like this. It would see a bit silly to pass it up, especially if you could get all 3 for $50.

Once again, Nintendo spoke to CVG to debunk the rumor, stating the game was, "purely rumour and speculation."

A lot of websites are taking Nintendo's denials as proof that nothing's amiss and the rumors are dead, but I don't buy it. The obvious conclusion to draw from the suspicious chain of events is that Nintendo wanted to ram the Trilogy through over Retro's objections as a quick and dirty cash-in, but frankly, anything could be going on between Retro and Nintendo. It could be as simple as petty internal politics, as comments on the Surfer Girl rumors obliquely suggest... and would certainly prompt a wall of denials from Nintendo.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Gallery

Comments

It could be as simple as petty internal politics

I'm more inclined to believe that is the case. Creating a trilogy shouldn't have been difficult enough to prompt such contention. (I think the typical reaction would be to roll your eyes, grumble, and simply get it out of the way.) More likely, the three were more upset about the creative direction of whatever new project Retro is working on.

 

"The obvious conclusion to draw from the suspicious chain of events is that Nintendo wanted to ram the Trilogy through over Retro's objections as a quick and dirty cash-in"

I always see Nintendo as a Google-like company with a "Do No Evil" mantra. If they want to do quick and dirty cash-in's, they would release Earthbound/Mother on the DS in english, and then put out a few bigger names in the Virtual Console.
 

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