New job listings posted by Metroid Prime 4 developer Retro Studios suggests that the game's release date could still be a long way off yet. The studio is hiring for several major positions and it may mean that the game may not launch until next year at the very earliest.

On the Retro Studios website, there are now 12 different open positions for the Metroid Prime 4 development team. One position is for an art director who will be responsible for directing art developed by internal and third-party artists, building an maintaining an "effective" art structure, and setting an artistic vision (as well as offering feedback on how to further that vision).

There are also openings for several engineers (gameplay and IT) who will be providing technical support and troubleshooting issues as well as upgrading the developer's systems and infrastructure. There are other positions for artists too, such as a lead external environment artist who will help to evaluate external teams' "proficiency" in environment art production and lead character artist who will create 3D sculptures of characters, creatures, weapons, and props, among other things.

While some of the open positions have been listed since July 2018 (physics engineer) and November 2018 (art director), the majority of them were posted on April 26, 2019. The fact that Retro Studios is hiring for so many important positions on the Metroid Prime 4 development team would suggest that the Nintendo Switch exclusive game won't be out for a while. It will need these positions to be filled so that it can properly coordinate development efforts and just to see what needs to be done before it presents gameplay to the public and for the game to ship.

It's safe to presume many fans were already prepared for Metroid Prime 4 to take a long time to make. In January, Nintendo confirmed that development on the game had been rebooted with Retro Studios taking over from former Metroid Prime 4 developer Bandai Namco.

Before the reboot, the only thing that had been shown of the game was a teaser with a Metroid Prime 4 logo. So, few were under the impression that it would release by the end of the year. However, if the job listings are to be believed, the game could be a long way off. It suggests that Retro has not yet begun full production on the game, or that not all areas of the game (such as character art and gameplay) are being worked on yet.

It seems unlikely that fans will get to play Metroid Prime 4 before holiday 2020 at the very earliest. However, Nintendo and Retro Studios will hopefully issue an update about the game's progress soon.

Metroid Prime 4 is in development exclusively for Nintendo Switch.

Source: Retro Studios