E3 2012: Reggie on Retro Studios’ No-Show

One of the most talked about surprises at Nintendo’s E3 press conference wasn’t something that they showed, but rather something they didn’t: there were no apparent offerings from Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios. Even our own commenters were surprised by their absence. So what gives?

IGN got the scoop from Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime, on why we didn’t see anything from Retro:

“If I disclosed what Retro is doing, I would have the president of Retro literally calling me right now saying, ‘Reggie, what are you doing?’ We love that people are interested. We love surprising people. I remember getting the questions before we announced Donkey Kong Country Returns. And I loved unveiling that. So…rest assured, the team is hard at work. But I’m not gonna tell you what they’re working on.”

So is it even likely we’ll hear something sometime soon at all?

“Likely not,” said Fils-Aime in response.

Annoying? Yes, very annoying—particularly because Retro Studios is one of the few Nintendo-exclusive developers that hardcore gamers really seem to get a charge out of. In addition, some now-deleted Twitter messages from not too long ago seemed to indicate that the studio was crunching on a game set to come out this year, says a post on Eurogamer. So if it’s not coming out for the Wii U during its launch this holiday, what the heck is it? Or has it simply been delayed? What’s really going on?

The good news is they’re working on something, so, yes, the Wii U will have a Retro-made game. That bad news is that, well, there’s no clue about when it might appear. While it doesn’t seem quite as rough as the 3DS’s dearth of launch software, the Wii U might have a tough time finding that audience…Nintendo Land will probably not be enough.

Is the lack of a Retro announcement a deal-killer for you? Or is the promise of a game further down the road enough to get you to buy a Wii U when it releases this year?

Via IGN and Eurogamer