Metroid Prime 4 and its questionable marketing

Metroid Prime 4, the highly anticipated entry 18 years in the making, releases December 4th, 2025. After an announcement, way back in 2017, it would take over 10 years to actually see any form of gameplay, and even longer to get an actual release date. Development was rocky, going through a full restart in 2019 after “failing to meet Nintendo’s standards for quality”. Fans waited eagerly for any sort of update, from anything short of a full cancellation, which led to 2024, where the game was finally shown off, in an admittedly good quality trailer, and given a 2025 release date.

It would take almost a year for another trailer to release in May 2025. This trailer, however, was a bit 'off'. The commentary over the trailer was a bit awkward, and the trailer only showed off bits of exploration, some action, and some riveting....door opening. It was nice to get more eyes on the game, sure, but there could've been a much better showing, especially to bring in non-fans. The next trailer would release months later, in September, which focused on the Vi-O-La motorcycle, and the open world features surrounding it. as well as finally showing a release date. While the features shown are nice, and the three amiibos that were announced are fantastic looking, the trailer itself was, again, 'off'. It took until last week to receive another great trailer. Even with only over a minute of footage, the short time was used to show off story, cutscenes, exploration, action gameplay, and Vi-O-La gameplay. Having all this packed in a short amount of time worked great. It managed to show off both a lot, and very little at the same time, which is how all trailers for Metroid should be.

Samus and Vi-O-La

The Metroid series is known for exploration and mystery, so many fans, myself included, concluded that the vagueness of the marketing is on purpose. Nintendo could be holding their cards close to their chest in order to not give away too much, which is a commendable feat, however non-fans may still need something to draw them in amongst the other stellar titles Nintendo has push out this year.

Metroid has never been Nintendo's best seller, far from it in fact. Most titles land in between one to two million sales, with Metroid Dread being the exception, pushing well past three million. With these sales numbers, it would stand to reason that Nintendo would be trying to push Prime 4 into a larger demographic, especially with it being the first title in 18 years. With the game releasing next month, it's shocking that there have only been four trailers, with only the first and most recent ones being high quality. As of now there are no running commercials, ads, or continuous social media attention from the official accounts.

There is still time for this to turn around, with three weeks remaining until release. With their most recent release, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Nintendo only has two more titles to release this year, Kirby Air Riders, and Metroid. This could lead to a sudden push in marketing, and could potentially render this entire article useless in no time, but I figured it is still something to bring up. For how highly reviews the Metroid titles are, the quality and lack of marketing is a bit puzzling, to say the least.

Viewros, Metroid Prime 4's new planet

Will the game sell well? Hopefully. Will the game be as good as fans hope? Probably. Has the marketing done a subpar job of showing off the game's finest? Definitely. Metroid Prime 4 has been my most anticipated game for a good portion of my life. I will be playing right at midnight on release day, as will many Metroid fans. One can only hope that the trailers have somehow brought in enough fans to make the new game a smashing success, and show Nintendo that they're not allowed to give up on the series again for another eight years.