Is Metroid about to have a BotW Moment?

The date is June 18th, 2024… and Nintendo just re-revealed Metroid Prime 4.

Rejoice! Breathe! Go touch some grass dear gamers, it’s really real – Metroid Prime is finally back! After 7 whole years, the game has once again graced a Nintendo Direct with a brand new trailer and a new name to boot.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond has been announced for 2025 and in anticipation of this inevitable reveal, I’ve had one big question on my mind:

Is Metroid about to have a Breath of the Wild moment?

Let me explain what I mean by that. Like Metroid Prime 4, Breath of the Wild was announced well ahead of its eventual release and experienced enough of a delay that it went from being a Wii U title to a cross-gen Wii U and Nintendo Switch launch title.

But it wasn’t just “a” Switch launch title, it became “THE” Switch launch title – creating unbelievable momentum for the fledgling system and smashing all sorts of expectations, from record-setting sales numbers to stealing a number of GOTY awards and solidifying itself as one of the greatest games of all time with a now inarguable place in video game history.

But let’s focus on the sales numbers aspect for a moment – not for the Switch, but for Zelda itself. Sitting pretty here in 2024, it may seem strange to recall, but before BotW and its successor in Tears of the Kingdom, the Zelda franchise wasn’t the same massive software seller for Nintendo that it is today.

Sure, some of the franchise’s greatest hits pre-Switch had moved 10+ million units (like Ocarina of Time and Link’s Awakening).  And in most cases, that’s an insane number, but Nintendo just scales differently with absolutely disgusting sales numbers for your Mario’s and your Pikachu’s and whatnot.

But BotW? 33 million units and counting.

Just take a look at the below graph of reported sales statistics for the Zelda franchise; BotW and TotK just HIT DIFFERENT:

Zelda series lifetime sales, June 2024. Source: Statista

Now, I’m not here to try and crack the code of exactly which factors are the most responsible for Zelda’s record-destroying success on the Switch. Was it the hype around the Switch itself with Nintendo marrying together the handheld and home console gaming audience? Was it the move to massive open world, sandbox-y game design? Was it the whacky gameplay mechanics that let your imagination run wild and gave you the tools to just go nuts? All of the above? Yes, and more.

What I’m more interested in doing here is pivoting back to Metroid.

With Nintendo set to announce their new hardware within this fiscal year (ending March 2025), and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond now confirmed for next year, are we about to witness another BotW moment – but this time starring Samus instead of Link?

Since the game is set to launch in 2025 and is NOT coming this Fall, it seems extremely likely that Prime 4 will be a cross-gen title, releasing for both the Switch and its successor. And historically, Metroid has not been a strong seller under the Nintendo umbrella.

To paint the picture, Metroid Dread released on the Switch back in October of 2021 and has since gone on to become the franchise’s fastest, best-selling entry. That record-setting sales number? Just over 3 million according to the latest reported figures.

Don’t get me wrong, 3 million ain’t nothing to sneeze at… unless you’re Nintendo. Just scroll back up to that Zelda lifetime sales graphic above and well… you get the picture. And again, I won’t even mention the numbers behind any little Italian plumbers or electric yellow mice stomping around the Nintendo landscape like Goliaths.

By no means do I say any of this as a dig at Dread or Metroid as a whole. Dread was in my personal top 10 games of 2021 and I think it’s an absolute stunner on the Switch hardware. I would even say it’s one of the most underrated and/or slept on Switch exclusives (up there with the likes of Bravely Default II – I will go to the mat for that one, just try me).

But let’s get back to the topic at hand: if Prime 4 is set to be one of THE featured titles in the Switch 2’s launch lineup, could Metroid get a little of that BotW magic? Can Samus take center stage and set the world on fire with the right spotlight?

Add to that, Prime 4 is an FPS game (instead of a 2.5D side-scroller) that’s had an (albeit, unintentionally) long hype cycle to drive demand and spread word of mouth to a larger audience, so we could just be looking at a powder keg moment for the series.

Plus, Metroid Prime Remastered has also reportedly surpassed 1 million sales and is sitting at an almost mind-blowing 94 on Metacritic. And if general gaming speculation is on the right track, it’s likely that remasters/ports for Prime 2 & 3 are also ready to go as a potential part of the marketing cycle for the ramp up to the Prime 4 release.

So, are all these pieces of the puzzle big enough and lined up just right enough to be the spark that lights the fire for the Metroid franchise?

I doubt we’ll see a 30 million+ system seller like we did with BotW – but I do think we could see Prime 4 blow its predecessors out of the water sales-wise, and bring the series to a larger player base than ever before, paving the way for a bright future for subsequent Metroid titles still to come.

But that’s my 2 cents so now I’ll turn the debate over to you: do you agree with what I’ve said? And perhaps even more importantly, how hyped are you to see Metroid Prime 4 back in the gaming stratosphere?