Apparently, something is happening over in Nintendo land this week. There's some kind of long-awaited sequel that's been in the works for 18 years? "Metroid"..."Prime"... they call it? That's a new one to us!

Seriously though, the new release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond actually has a connection to Xbox, and specifically the Halo series. When the reviews and latest gameplay footage started doing the rounds this week, many people were making the comparison to Halo, and it seems there's a very good reason for that.

Taking to social media, VGC's Andy Robinson confirmed that there are "lots" of former 343 Industries developers on the Retro Studios team (studio behind Metroid Prime 4), with reporter Rebs Gaming highlighting that it's a "significant" amount of people that worked on Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo Infinite.

We haven't come across a full list of names yet, but looking back to a VGC article from 2024, various people with Halo history were listed in the development credits for Metroid Prime 4. At the time, the following names were mentioned:

  • Jessica Spence, senior producer (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Halo 4)
  • Chris Lewis, senior environment / material artist (Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Infinite)
  • Kyle Hefley, lead character artist (Halo 4, 5 & Infinite, Call of Duty: Black Ops, DJ Hero)
  • Brandon Habib, lighting artist (Halo Infinite)
  • Bobby Arlauskas, sound designer (Metroid Prime 3, Donkey Kong Country Returns & Tropical Freeze, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Halo 4)
  • Robert Walker, gameplay engineer (Halo 2L Anniversary, Doom 2016, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered)

In particular, Kyle Hefley is someone who made headlines when joining Retro Studios back in 2019, having served as the senior character modeler for Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo Infinite before taking on a lead character role for Metroid Prime.

Many have pointed out in the comments of the above Twitter post that Metroid developers have jumped to Halo in the past as well, so it's no surprise the two series' look quite similar.

Of course, it's not like everyone on the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond team has worked on Halo before — there's a ridiculous number of people who have developed all sorts of major games across the industry (including many Bethesda and Activision titles that are now owned by Xbox) — but it's fun to see a crossover like this all the same.

We'll leave you with a review of Metroid Prime 4 from Nintendo Life, just in case you own one of those "Switch" thingies!

Did you know this already? Are you playing Metroid Prime 4? Tell us in the comments down below.