Games

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond shows how over 20 studios powered Samus’ biggest mission yet

8 December 2025
Nintendo Switch 2Nintendo Switch
9 min.
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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond shows how over 20 studios powered Samus’ biggest mission yet

Summary:

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is credited as a Retro Studios project, but anyone who scrolls through the credits quickly notices something else – Samus’ latest mission is the result of a long list of partner teams working together. Retro sits at the center, yet studios such as Next Level Games and Virtuos join a lineup that includes Territory Studio, Waterproof, Keywords Studios, Liquid Development, Volta, AMC Studio, GameSim, Smoking Gun Interactive, Forge Studios, Red Hot CG, Original Force, Devoted Studios, Room 8 Studio, Next Gen Dreams, Mock Science, Cup of Tea, Formosa Interactive and House of Moves. Together, they helped turn an ambitious first person adventure into something that runs on both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 while still hitting the visual standard players expect in 2025. Here, the focus is on what this collaboration means, how each type of partner fits in and why such a large crew is becoming normal for big Nintendo projects.

How Metroid Prime 4: Beyond became a huge studio collaboration

Watching the credits roll for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels a bit like looking at the backstage map of a theme park. Retro Studios is the name everyone expects, yet the credits keep scrolling, revealing one assist team after another. Nintendo Life and other outlets highlight that more than 20 support studios are involved alongside Retro, with Next Level Games and Virtuos standing out as particularly familiar names for Nintendo fans. That scale can surprise players who still imagine a single studio building a game from start to finish. Modern development, especially for a technically demanding release that targets both Switch and Switch 2, rarely looks that simple. Instead, different specialists handle specific slices of work, from cinematics and UI to art, testing and performance tuning. The result is a project where Retro provides direction and design while a network of trusted partners helps carry the load.

Why Nintendo and Retro Studios leaned on outside partners

There is a practical reason so many logos appear after Retro Studios in the credits. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond spent years in production, switching direction when development was rebooted under Retro and eventually targeting two hardware generations at once. That kind of project touches every part of Nintendo’s release calendar, and relying purely on a single internal team would either stretch development even further or force painful compromises elsewhere. By bringing in specialists like Next Level Games, which Nintendo acquired to secure long term internal resources, and external partners such as Virtuos and various art and QA houses, Nintendo can spread risk in a smarter way. Extra teams help smooth out production spikes, support key milestones like vertical slices and demos, and allow Retro to focus on the core feel of exploration and combat. Instead of one studio trying to master every field at once, Nintendo lines up experts where they are needed most.

Retro Studios as the creative lead steering Samus’ new mission

Retro Studios still sits at the center of everything that defines Metroid Prime 4: Beyond as a Metroid experience. The Texas based team is responsible for the original Metroid Prime trilogy and understands better than anyone how to blend first person exploration, tight shooting and a dense sense of atmosphere. Official listings show Retro as the main developer, with key roles like director, producer and lead designer all belonging to Retro staff. That means decisions about level layout, enemy design, progression structure and Samus’ new abilities flow through Retro. While assist studios contribute key pieces, Retro serves as the voice that keeps those pieces aligned with Metroid’s identity. When players talk about the way a corridor feels eerie, how a puzzle loops back on itself or how a boss arena reveals new layers, they are responding to a vision set by Retro and supported by many hands.

What Next Level Games brings from Luigi’s Mansion and Federation Force

Next Level Games appears in the credits as one of the most eye catching partners. This Canadian studio is known for titles like Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Luigi’s Mansion 3, as well as Metroid Prime: Federation Force on Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo acquired the company in 2021, turning it into a closely linked internal partner that can jump onto high priority projects when needed. With that background, Next Level Games brings deep experience with Nintendo style character animation, environmental storytelling and cooperative design, even if Federation Force represents a different spin on Metroid than Prime 4. Credits highlight named developers from Next Level who contributed directly, suggesting targeted support in areas where their skills shine, such as enemy behaviors, encounter design or specific gameplay sequences. Their history with both Luigi’s Mansion and Metroid makes them a natural fit to help refine sections where personality and responsiveness matter.

Virtuos as the technical bridge between Switch and Switch 2

Virtuos is another name that will ring a bell for many players, especially those who pay attention to ports. The studio has worked on high profile Nintendo Switch versions of games like Dark Souls Remastered and The Outer Worlds, and has publicly discussed how it approaches performance on Nintendo hardware. Engineers from Virtuos and its subsidiary Black Shamrock have talked about Switch 2 being capable of handling many titles originally targeting Xbox Series S when aiming for 60 frames per second, thanks to factors like DLSS support and a modern CPU. Bringing that experience to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is invaluable. The game must feel great on the original Switch while also taking advantage of Switch 2’s upgraded GPU and upscaling tools. Virtuos’ familiarity with tricky optimization paths, asset streaming and performance budgets helps Retro focus on play feel while still delivering versions that suit both systems.

The art and cinematic specialists shaping Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s look

Beyond the two headline partners, the credits read like a roll call of visual specialists. Territory Studio is known for motion graphics and UI work in games and films, while studios like Waterproof, Liquid Development, Volta, Red Hot CG, Original Force and Forge Studios often contribute concept art, character models, environments and promotional imagery across the industry. AMC Studio, Room 8 Studio and Next Gen Dreams operate in similar spaces, offering scalable outsourced art pipelines that can step in when a project needs a surge of assets. When a world like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s demands exotic aliens, ancient architecture, intricate props and atmospheric cinematics, this type of network makes a difference. It allows Retro to keep visual direction under tight control while letting many artists execute inside that style, building a cohesive universe without locking everything to one building in Austin.

The support studios handling testing, optimization and polish

Not every partner on the list is focused on art or front facing features. Keywords Studios, for example, is a giant in support services, including quality assurance, localization and engineering support. GameSim and Smoking Gun Interactive bring technical and design skills, while Devoted Studios, Mock Science and Cup of Tea are the kind of flexible collaborators that can plug in where extra hands would help most, from tools to gameplay implementation. Formosa Interactive and House of Moves are strongly associated with audio, performance capture and animation work, adding life to characters and creatures that might otherwise feel static. Taken together, these studios make sure that Samus’ movement looks natural, that bugs get spotted and fixed, that audio cues land exactly when they should and that small interface details do not break immersion. That kind of polish is hard to achieve without a serious bench of specialists.

How multi studio development changes schedules, budgets and risk

Bringing so many teams onto one project does not just change the credits – it changes how the entire project is planned. Multi studio development requires strong scheduling, clear documentation and robust tools that can be shared across time zones. Nintendo’s decision to reboot Metroid Prime 4 under Retro and then gradually build a network of partners speaks to the scale of the ambition here. Instead of compressing everything into a single over stretched team, work is distributed according to strengths, but that also means communication has to be bulletproof. Milestones must be set so that assist studios can deliver assets when they are needed, and Retro has to maintain a stable build that can accept new work without collapsing. The reward is a game that might ship in a stronger state across two systems, but it only works when planning and leadership are rock solid.

What this collaboration says about Nintendo’s future blockbusters

Looking at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond through the lens of its credits gives a glimpse of how Nintendo might approach other large projects on Switch 2 and beyond. For years, the company was seen as relying primarily on tightly knit internal teams, with only occasional outside collaborations. Recent projects, including this one, show a more flexible mindset. Retro remains the creative pillar, Nintendo’s producers keep a close eye on quality and tone, yet partner studios are trusted to handle big slices of the workload. That shift lines up with rising expectations for visuals, performance and feature sets, as well as longer hardware lifecycles. If Switch 2 continues to host large scale adventures, it is likely that Nintendo will keep turning to specialists like Virtuos, Next Level Games and the many art, audio and QA partners that helped Metroid Prime 4 reach its final shape.

Why players benefit when more than 20 studios share the workload

For players, the most important question is simple: does all of this collaboration actually make the game better to play. In the case of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the answer shows up in lots of small ways that are easy to take for granted. Environments feel rich and varied because dozens of artists had the bandwidth to build them. Performance is stable across both Switch and Switch 2 thanks to teams who live and breathe optimization. Animations, sounds and user interface elements click into place with a level of polish that rarely appears by accident. Even the decision to support features like DLSS on Switch 2 comes from the kind of technical expertise that studios like Virtuos bring. When more than 20 teams pull in the same direction under strong leadership from Retro and Nintendo, players end up with a smoother, sharper adventure that still feels undeniably like Metroid.

Conclusion

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond might wear Retro Studios’ logo on the box, but the credits make it clear that Samus’ return is a team effort on a huge scale. Next Level Games brings Nintendo flavored design sensibilities, Virtuos contributes hard won porting knowledge for Switch and Switch 2 and a long list of art, audio, animation and support studios fill in the gaps that no single developer can cover alone. Far from diluting the identity of the series, this approach lets Retro double down on what it does best while trusting partners to handle vital details. As blockbusters grow more complex and hardware expectations rise, this style of collaboration is likely to become the rule rather than the exception. For players, that is good news, because it means more ambitious journeys with Samus and other Nintendo icons that can still hit the level of quality everyone expects.

FAQs
  • How many studios worked on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond alongside Retro Studios
    • The credits list Retro Studios as the main developer and more than 20 additional assist teams. These include well known names like Next Level Games and Virtuos plus a range of art, audio, testing and support studios such as Territory Studio, Waterproof, Keywords Studios, Liquid Development, Volta, AMC Studio, GameSim, Smoking Gun Interactive, Forge Studios, Red Hot CG, Original Force, Devoted Studios, Room 8 Studio, Next Gen Dreams, Mock Science, Cup of Tea, Formosa Interactive and House of Moves.
  • What role does Next Level Games play in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
    • Next Level Games is a Nintendo owned studio known for Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Metroid Prime: Federation Force. In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond it appears as an assist developer, with specific staff credited for their work. While the credits do not spell out exact tasks, Next Level’s track record suggests support in areas like gameplay sequences, enemy encounters and responsive character behaviors that match Nintendo’s usual standards.
  • Why is Virtuos involved with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch 2
    • Virtuos has a long history of handling demanding ports for Nintendo platforms, including Dark Souls Remastered and other technically complex projects. People from the studio and its subsidiaries have publicly discussed how Switch 2’s hardware and DLSS support make 60 frames per second targets more achievable. On Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, their role as an assist studio likely centers on performance, optimization and getting the game running well on both Switch and Switch 2.
  • What do the other assist studios contribute to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
    • The wider group of assist teams covers specialties such as art production, cinematics, UI, audio, performance capture, quality assurance and general engineering support. Studios like Territory Studio, Liquid Development, Volta, AMC Studio, Forge Studios, Red Hot CG, Original Force, Room 8 Studio and others have histories in those fields across many projects. For Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, they help deliver the volume of assets, polish and testing needed for a large release.
  • Does using so many studios change how Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels to play
    • The core feel of the game still comes from Retro Studios, which directs design, pacing and overall tone. The assist teams extend Retro’s reach rather than replace it. When everything goes well, the player mainly notices the positives: richer environments, smoother performance, stronger animations and fewer technical issues. The collaboration model stays invisible during play, while Samus’ journey and the atmosphere of the world remain firmly in Retro’s hands.
Sources
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