Reggie says Nintendo has internal expectations about when Metroid Prime 4 will be released, more

Earlier today, Mashable published an interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. One of the hot topics discussed – albeit brief – was Metroid Prime 4. Reggie noted that Nintendo is thinking internally about when the game will be released and is “well in development.”

Outside of Metroid Prime 4, Reggie spoke about Nintendo’s approach to announcements, release dates, partnerships, and more. We’ve rounded up some of these comments below. You can read Mashable’s full piece here.

On whether Nintendo has an idea of when Metroid Prime 4 will be coming out…

“Internally, we have expectations about when [Metroid Prime 4] is going to be released. We haven’t announced it, but yeah, the game is well in development.”

On how Nintendo approaches game announcements…

“Typically six months to maybe a year out is what we like to do, but there are times for strategic reasons that we believe it’s important to message that a game is coming. We did that years and years ago with Zelda. We were messaging a new Zelda experience back during the days of the Wii U… It really depends on the game, it depends on the type of development that it’s going through, and it depends on how we feel the consumer is going to respond to the particular message.”

On release dates…

“We do think deeply about the sequencing of our games, but having said that, Nintendo is well-known that if a game isn’t ready, we will push out the development in order to make sure that it is as strong as possible when the game launches. During my tenure with Nintendo, we’ve pushed back development a number of times on key games – in the end it’s always worth it. Because our focus on quality is so strong.”

On whether it’s Nintendo’s goal to have all these different franchises have a moment in the sun on every console…

“Our goal with every system is that we launch an iconic execution within a particular franchise, whether it’s a Super Mario platforming experience, or a Smash Bros. experience, we want that execution to truly be iconic. That takes time, and that’s something that for us is very important. Ours is a company that doesn’t do annualized software, and so when we create a Zelda game, when we create a Smash Bros. game, or a Pokémon experience comes on the platform, it needs to be exceptionally compelling because we plan on selling it for a very long time.”

On creating new experiences…

“We always strive to create new content. We want to create the next Splatoon, we want to create the next Arms, we want to create the next Labo. We’re always looking to create experiences that the consumer hasn’t even considered.”

On partnerships with other companies…

“For us, what we think about is: The company we’re working with, do they share the same values that we have? Do they have the same type of mentality when it comes to that content? Will our intellectual property be showcased in a way that’s consistent with that intellectual property? And in the end is it going to be a great experience for the consumer? Those are the things that we think about as we enter in those types of conversations.”

On Nintendo’s movie and series plans around streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu…

“We are going to be exploring a range of different opportunities, and when those are ready we’ll announce them.”