Fans who pre-ordered the original version of Metroid Prime 4 on Amazon are logging in to find that their reserved copies are being canceled. Way back in 2017, Nintendo announced that the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 was in development with original Prime trilogy producer Kensuke Tanabe back at the helm. However, this sequel would be developed by Bandai Namco Studios in Japan and Singapore, rather than Retro Studios like the first three Metroid Prime entries.
However, about two years later, Nintendo announced that development on Metroid Prime 4 had been restarted from the ground up, with Retro Studios replacing Bandai Namco Studios as developer due to the latter reportedly not meeting Nintendo’s standards. In 2024, Nintendo released the first official trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, featuring Samus embarking on a new mission at a remote Galactic Federation Research Facility and highlighting some of the game’s first-person action. While there is no official release date for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond yet, Nintendo says that it will launch sometime in 2025.
In the meantime, some pre-orders for the old incarnation of Metroid Prime 4 are being canceled on Amazon, as reported by NintendoLife. A Reddit user by the handle of mecha_flake is one of the customers finding out that their pre-order has been canceled, sharing the message they received from Amazon on r/Metroid. According to this message, they note that their pre-order was so old that it still had the special discount that Amazon was offering at the time, and other users are coming forward with their own orders being canceled.
Amazon Is Canceling Original Metroid Prime 4 Pre-Orders
Amazon’s official message says that these Metroid Prime 4 cancelations are due to a “lack of availability,” which could be the result of Metroid Prime 4’s development being restarted and how long it has been since the pre-orders were first offered on Amazon’s online store. Affected customers are speculating that Amazon might not want to honor the old pre-orders’ discount price of $48, since most new Nintendo exclusives usually cost $70.
On a positive note, these pre-order cancelations seem to only pertain to the original version of Metroid Prime 4 that was announced in 2017, and don’t appear to be a sign of any further development trouble for the retooled Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The next chapter in Samus’ first-person saga is still set to be released in 2025, and there has even been speculation that Metroid Prime 4 could serve as a launch title for the new Nintendo Switch 2 console.
