Don’t believe the Tube’s lies – Metroid Prime 4 isn’t actually out now

Commuters on the London Underground – colloquially known as the Tube – have been surprised with a strange announcement in the form of an advertisement. The ad, which featured alongside a host of other Switch 2 ads, proudly announced that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is “out now.” Except it’s not, because of course it’s not. 

The offending ad is present at the Oxford Circus station in London, and after circulating on the internet for a while, was confirmed by VGC after reporters at the outlet visited the station. Other ads included in the display were for Donkey Kong Bananza (which just got a bananas Nintendo Direct presentation), the Switch 2 version of Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Mario Kart World, the latter of which is actually out now. 

https://twitter.com/Andy_VGC/status/1935837751959499171

Mario Kart World also seems likely to be at least part of the reason Metroid Prime 4 is being listed as available — the “out now” label on that ad seems to be identical to the label on Metroid Prime 4, and a close look at the label on the Metroid ad shows that it seems to be covering up a much smaller box. If we had to guess, that hidden box would say “2025,” but we can’t see that because Mario’s overeager label is covering it up. 

There could be a number of reasons for this. Perhaps the “out now” label is a sticker that was intended to be placed over the “2025” label after the game was released. Perhaps there were two ads sent to the marketing agency, one for prior to release and one for after release. Or – and this is almost certainly the case – some poor graphic designer forgot to hide the “out now” asset from Mario Kart World’s ad in photoshop before exporting Metroid Prime 4’s ad. 

Either way, in case there was any doubt, Nintendo issued VGC with a statement confirming the obvious: Metroid Prime 4 is not out now, and in fact will be released at some point later this year. 

“We can confirm that the ‘Out Now’ message on this advert is incorrect,” the statement reads. “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition are not yet available, and are scheduled for release in 2025.”

And there you have it. Metroid Prime 4 did not suddenly get a stealth release, and if it did, you probably wouldn’t be finding out while waiting for the Tube in the morning. At least there are plenty of other games to play on the Switch 2 in the meantime, including Fortnite, Survival Kids, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and more: