This sucks for Wii & Nintendo. My guess is they are starting a new studio to do PS3/360 development. They were such a killer team, I feared that the low-specs of Revolution/Wii would not be enough to keep them happy for another 5 years. You have to remember that when they were coding for Gamecube it was 30% more powerful than PS2.

It also has me worried that there may not be any more Metroid FPS games or even a multiplayer FPS Metroid.

All the idiot critics and fans who actually complained about the bonus of multiplayer in Echoes should be shot. They would have added that to Corruption and it would have had online.
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http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52373

Key Metroid Prime Staff Leave Retro Studios
by Chris Faylor Apr 23, 2008 5:28pm CST tags: Retro Studios, Nintendo, Metroid Prime
Shacknews has learned that several key employees from Metroid Prime series developer Retro Studios are no longer with the company.

Design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Mathews were escorted off the premises last Friday. The simultaneous departure of senior staff members is generally indicative of an intention to branch off and form a new development studio.

Contrary to other rumors, Shacknews has also learned that Retro Studios is not in danger of closing.

Founded in 1998 and purchased by Nintendo in 2001, Retro was responsible for the Metroid Prime trilogy, which concluded with the company's first Wii title last August. The studio's current project is unknown, though it has stated its intent to move away from the Metroid franchise.

I wish them good luck on whatever they're planning to do, and thanks for some great Metroid games.

And this is almost certainly not the end of Metroid. Remember, Retro did not make the older Metroids, nor did they develop MP: Hunters.

It's true, I have been a Metroid fan since the beginning.

But they were a killer dev-house. Those 3 people were the tech, design, and art of Prime. It's hard to lose people like that.

I wonder if the rumors that the rest of the studio is working on Kid Icarus is true?

Well, look on the bright side: if they are setting up a new studio, their talent is going to go into some other game instead.