The Metroid series has historically struggled to reach the upper echelons of Nintendo’s sales charts, currently ranking 17th among the publisher’s major franchises—trailing behind the likes of Wario, Duck Hunt, and Game & Watch.
In its second week on the Japanese market, Metroid Prime 4 moved a mere 3,381 physical copies. This brings the cumulative total for the first fortnight to 32,382 units—a figure three times lower than what Metroid Dread achieved in the same timeframe and significantly behind other Switch-era titles like Kirby Air Ride and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
These opening sales for Prime 4 have failed to match the historical debut figures of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3. While digital downloads are not reflected in these statistics, the current data points toward a disappointing commercial trajectory for the title.
The journey to release was famously arduous: first announced in 2017, the project was completely scrapped and restarted in 2019 with Retro Studios at the helm, finally reaching consumers in December 2025.
Source: iXBT.games