Yeah, but you cant ignore it either, because the sales history do show a pattern that can be studied to thus predict possible future outcomes.The only case which sales history might become less relevant is when the game in question tries for something entirely new, which is the case of Zelda, Mario(Kind of), and GOW, to give an example from a different platform.

You could say that a desirable hardware might unlock a game selling potential, which is indeed true in this case, and thus justify a higher budget for said game.The problem here is that MP 4 started development before the Switch released, and Nintendo was still unsure about the Switch doing gangbusters, and so being cautious about how much they were willing to spend on their games.Maybe given the runaway success of the console, Nintendo might have, sometime during 2017, given an extra budget to whoever is developing the game to hire additional personel to polish the game further, maybe even enhance some assets or key scenes, but MP 4 will be "held back" by being a game concotioned in the "pre-Switch era", in terms of when the development began.If Nintendo was being cautious about it, anyway.

And I mean, its not like Nintendo will not give it the appropriate budget either.Nintendo is very efficient with its money, and they know that the Prime series requires a good budget due to the nature of the game, so I dont think we should worry that much.

Prime 4's development is ongoing though, and much of its production will take place after it became clear Switch was a smash hit. Opening the purse strings a little and giving it VIP treatment would go a long way for a series that's always been defined by its immersive worlds.

You don't have to throw away what people love about a series to expand its reach either, as Odyssey demonstrates; it will sell more than any prior 3D Mario without alienating core fans.

But the game will still be held back, if you can even say that, by being planned before the boom happened.Nintendo cant simply come in now and say "No, we want a bigger game, with more bells and whistles.Throw/repurpose 2 or 3 years worth of development so that the game is bigger and delay it for 3 years".Like I said, it can get a bigger push now and the game can get prettier, but it wont be a makeover.

And while I do understand your Mario example, Oddyssey is a type of game that hasnt been done, in the Mario mainline games, in 20 years give or take.It is, by all accounts, a new take.One that changes the formula, but dosent change the concept.

We don't know how long MP4 was in production though, they could have only started it last year and it might not arrive til 2020. They might have known Switch was a hit by the time production began in earnest.

Uncharted 4 is another example, it didn't really change the formula drastically or alienate core fans, yet it smashed the sales ceiling for the franchise.

It didnt start last year, we all know it.It probably isnt in late development, but its not far from it.If I were to guess, it must have started development along with Samus Returns.Nintendo might have announced this early in an attempt to drum up hype for the Switch(remember that they still needed to solidify the console success), but they wouldnt pull a Square and announce a game with 6 months of production.No scratch that.It would probably be in pre production if that were the case.

And Uncharted was always a very successful franchise, since the start.Its simply doing better now because it is in a better selling console.And you know, it is better regarded than Metroid, for better or worse.Metroid on the other hand, never sold more than 2.5 million units, and that only happened once with the first Prime on Gamecube.

This MIGHT be Metroid big breakout, but lets not put the cart before the horses.Nintendo wont put a huge buckload of money behind it if its not a garanteed success as Mario, Zelda and Animal Crossing, to name a few examples.Hell, they didnt do it for XC 2, and that franchise is farring better than Metroid in recent years, so lets not expect too much.

I'm not expecting too much; like I said a few pages back, I expect that Nintendo will cheap out on this game and that as a result it fall far short of its potential. I am quite pessimistic about MP4's prospects on the whole.

I dont think that Nintendo will cheap it out either.I just dont think they will go all in on it, hiring a team of 200+ developers for this game alone, in order to make the best Metroid that it ever was.I think Nintendo will do indeed try to make it the best it can, as financially safe it can.I imagine that they will give it a budget that 750k to 1000k sales will be enough to break even.That should be more than enough to make an excellent game, based on how XC 2 turned out to be and how staff constrained that game was, and hopefully bring that franchise back from the dead.

Hell, I still think that not bringing Samus Returns to the Switch was a mistake.That game would have sold far better on it.Hopefully that gets announced by E3, even if its a digital only release.

I sure as hell hope it's not as resource constrained as Xenoblade 2, that game had very obvious issues as a result of being understaffed. I don't want MP4 to suffer the same problems.

Just as a sidenote, I personally feel that XC 2 had very little issues, other than clear performance problems here and there, and some undercooked features like the map.And the the quality of the low tier cutscenes, but thats expected of a franchise that dosent sell millions on a constant basis.Other than that, it was pretty flawless.Personally I never understood the "problems" people say the game has.So if Metroid was that kind of experience, Im more than fine with it.Should be said again that this is only my opinion.