The Nintendo Wii U’s shelf life is dwindling fast. With the existence of the Nintendo NX -- whatever that is -- and it’s future foray into the mobile game space, the Wii U will likely be phased out.
But that doesn’t mean there can’t be some awesome games coming to the Wii U before that happens. With the success of Splatoon and the continued popularity of Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, Nintendo is going strong with Wii U titles. And that library of games will get stronger with the release of Super Mario Maker as well as Star Fox Wii U.
And who can forget the upcoming Zelda Wii U.
However, a new job listing on the Retro Studios website shows that the studio is looking for a Graphics Engineer . Could Retro and Nintendo be bringing back Metroid Prime for the Wii U? Let’s look at the evidence.
The primary duties of this Graphics Engineer for Retro Studios consists of the following:
“Individual contributor that develops, writes and debugs code for video game software and tools with a specific focus on game play programming for player, camera, gimmicks and various other game-play systems as required.”
There’s a slew of duties outlined in the job listing and it signifies that Retro Studios is gearing up for another game for Nintendo soon. But is it for a Wii U version of Metroid?
This isn’t the first time Retro Studios has gone on a hiring spree . Back in August of 2014 Retro Studios were searching for a gameplay engineer, an AI engineer, some tools engineers, and an artist.
A year and no game announcement to speak of later has led to more speculation regarding Metroid Prime. Nintendo is releasing Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the 3DS and while it isn’t a proper Metroid game, it takes place in the Metroid Prime universe.
Is Nintendo priming -- sorry, not sorry, for the pun -- fans for a return to a proper Metroid game for the Wii U? It’s definitely possible and good sales could show Nintendo that fans are yearning for a Metroid game.
Nintendo of America’s EVP of Sales and Marketing Scott Moffitt spoke to us at E3 2015 about a possible Metroid Wii U title and while he didn’t have concrete information saying if one was down the pipeline, he had this to say.
“Metroid is really up to our game developers to decide how best to create new and different experiences. This Metroid experience [Federation Force] offers a local multiplayer feature that could be a lot of fun for game fans and we hope fans try it out and come to their own conclusions,” Moffitt said. “I have nothing more to announce about a Metroid game for Wii U but let’s be happy for what we have. We’ve got something and let’s experience it and hope fans will enjoy.”
Why can’t the game developers be Retro Studios? They had so much success with their Prime series that a return to it may give the franchise the boost it needs after the lukewarm reception Other M received.
Or it could be another Donkey Kong game.
We reached out to Nintendo of America for comment on the Retro Studios job listing and will update when we receive word.
In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on the Retro Studios job listing and whether this means Metroid is on the way in the comments section.
