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UPDATE: Nintendo has confirmed to IGN that the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond advert currently at Oxford Circus in London is incorrect, and the game still lacks an official release date.

More like this Open Back Headphones: A Sound Experience Like No Other “We can confirm that the ‘Out Now’ message on this advert is incorrect,” a Nintendo spokesperson said. “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition are not yet available and are scheduled for release in 2025.”

IGN has been able to verify the advert currently remains in place at the station — as detailed in our original report below.

ORIGINAL STORY: A giant advert for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond at London’s Oxford Circus tube station states that the game is now available, sparking confusion from Nintendo fans on their morning commute.

First off, if you’ve seen the advert yourself, no — the current London heatwave hasn’t melted your senses. The advert, now spotted by multiple fans and confirmed in person by IGN staff, really does say the game is “out now”.

Officially, Nintendo has not announced a Metroid Prime 4: Beyond release date other than a vague promise it will launch this year. But even if the game isn’t out now, its appearance on an advert in such a prominent location is giving Nintendo fans hope its launch is right around the corner.

“Any idea why the MP4 Beyond ad in the London Underground says ‘out now’?” Nintendo fan orchestar wrote on reddit. “I’m genuinely confused. Do they mean the Switch 2 is out? I wish the game was truly out though haha.”

Fans have speculated that the advert is perhaps outdated — maybe Nintendo did initially plan to launch Metroid Prime 4 now, and the wording wasn’t updated? Alternatively, we could be seeing a version of the advert not due until later, alongside the game’s actual release date.

For other Nintendo fans, keen to play the game soon after many years of waiting, the advert has sparked hope of a surprise release. This does seem unlikely, however, with Donkey Kong Bananza firmly positioned as Nintendo’s next big Switch 2 title.

As IGN senior commerce editor Rob Anderson told me this morning, reporting from the scene, the whole of this Oxford Circus tube platform is one long Nintendo Switch 2 advert, with individual panels for games such as Super Mario Party Jamboree, Donkey Kong Bananza and the Switch 2 console itself. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s placement here, then, looks just to be part of a wider promotional campaign — rather than a specific placement for the individual game.

IGN has contacted Nintendo for comment.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is “out now”, according to this Oxford Circus advert. Image credit: IGN

Now a cross-gen title for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set to finally arrive at some point in 2025 after a long and eventful development.

Originally announced back in 2017, the follow-up to Retro Studios’ beloved GameCube and Wii trilogy was rebooted in 2019, and development restarted by Retro Studios after an earlier version in the works at Bandai Namco failed to meet Nintendo’s standards. Years later, with Switch 2 on the horizon, Nintendo finally gave the game a proper unveiling in June 2024.

On Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will run at 120 frames per second and offer optional controls that take advantage of the Joy-Con’s mouse feature. It seems most likely to arrive at some point between Donkey Kong Bananza’s July launch and Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s arrival in October.

Photo credit: Rob Anderson

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

An unusual “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” advert appeared across the London Underground, stating that the highly anticipated title is “out now.” The catch? The game isn’t actually out—at least not according to Nintendo’s own official online store, where no release date has been listed.

The deceptive billboard, positioned near Oxford Circus, went instantly viral once commuters took snaps and uploaded them on Reddit. Several users confirmed its authenticity, and a tide of confusion and speculation erupted on social media platforms.

Is This Advertising Blunder or a Dirty Trick?

On closer examination, eagle-eyed enthusiasts spotted a curious detail: the “now” in the “out now” slogan has a distinctly different background than the “out.” This small but significant inconsistency has caused many to think that a removable sticker, perhaps featuring “2025” or “coming soon,” was accidentally omitted or removed prematurely.

Reddit commenters didn’t waste any time dissecting the poster. Here’s what some Reddit users said.

“Likely intended to blanket it with ‘coming soon,’ which would be overlayed later with an actual date.” “Studios used to send stickers to blanket old dates on posters—used to do it all the time in theaters.”

It’s a theory that’s picking up steam, particularly in light of the absence of an official release date. The poster might simply have been put up too early or handled poorly upon rollout, resulting in what now seems like a big gaffe from Nintendo or its marketing collaborators.

Metroid Prime 4 Release Window

Apart from the billboard faux pas, “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” remains officially unreleased, according to Daily Star UK. That said, fans estimate a 2024 release is probable based on Nintendo’s typical release schedule. One Redditor proposed an imaginary schedule for the remainder of the year:

“Donkey Kong” – July

“Pokémon”– October

“Metroid Prime 4″– Potentially August or November

“Hyrule Warriors,” “DragXDrive,” and “Kirby Air Riders” – To take up loose calendar spots

Considering Nintendo’s track record of putting out one big title per month, Metroid might arrive in late summer or autumn. But without confirmation, it’s all just in our heads at the moment.

Billboard Slip-Up Highlights a Bigger Marketing Challenge

In a big game launch like “Metroid Prime 4,” what is needed is simplicity, especially with years of hype from fans. If this was a premature release or typo, it dangers obscuring the frenzy surrounding the game.

The “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” ad could be a teaser or simply just a poster to hype up the fandom. We might need to wait until August to see what the ad wants to imply.

The fatigued yet determined Hollow Knight: Silksong community, perpetually waiting for a sequel that at times has felt like a hallucination, is used to disappointment and accustomed to being the butt of a joke. Prepare your clown makeup, and so on. But after years of letdowns, and even with a 2025 Silksong launch now firmly in sight, this year’s string of not-E3 showings has been especially painful. We have a date, we know it’s real, and we know it’s coming before the holiday season, but sure, here’s one last volley of no-shows for the books.

It’s bad enough that the genuinely significant news around Silksong – the fact it’s out “before” the holidays – arrived not during any of the big showcases teed up this month, but in a trace Discord post initially seen only by the Skong devoted. Separately, marketing lead Matthew Griffin reckoned “DLC is likely, but that decision isn’t up to me.”

This news was a welcome but flimsy bandage on fresh wounds from Summer Game Fest, where Geoff Keighley and Microsoft teamed up to piledrive Silksong fans into the trenches of desperation.

Silksong was indeed mentioned at the big SGF opening night live, but only in passing as a launchpad for a new Deadpool VR game. “You’re gonna do me a solid and skip that Silksong trailer so you can hit my revolutionary VR gaming venture that will shock the industry, probably,” Keighley said, reading off a card purportedly sent by Deadpool himself. (I don’t believe it, personally; it was probably a ghost writer.)

Worse still, we actually saw Silksong footage in Microsoft’s reveal of the new Asus ROG Xbox Ally, its new portable PC running an Xbox-ified version of Windows that hopefully makes up for the fact that this is otherwise an ROG Ally with Xbox branding so thin you could see your hand through it.

ROG Xbox Ally World Premiere Reveal Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase – YouTube Watch On

It was right there! The first thing we saw on the handheld’s app list was Silksong, joined by Gears Tactics, Balatro, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The reveal trailer went straight into Silksong gameplay, with new protagonist Hornet pirouetting and pogoing over enemies in a field. Microsoft was really lingering on this, but it all came to nothing.

Several years after Xbox said the game would be out within a year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says the Silksong appearance at the Xbox Ally reveal was just a “good partnership” and a fun way to include Team Cherry. The game itself is totally divorced from the handheld, which will simply provide another way to play it.

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Bear in mind, this string of duds came on the heels of the umpteenth round of Steam backend spying, with some fans convincing themselves once again that something could be on the horizon. A shadow drop? A demo? A new trailer? An actual release date, dare we dream? It’s summer showcase season, now’s the time! But no, it was all another mirage. More often than not, Hollow Knight fans do this to themselves, but this really was a perfect storm of setup with no payoff. But hey, we’re only a few months away. Surely.

Hollow Knight: Silksong has its own GTA 6-like release date blast zone – “I hope Silksong will release this year coz we are avoiding them,” says boss of lovely JRPG-flavored Metroidvania.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for a couple of weeks now, and the company is experimenting with expanded marketing such as a livestream for its upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza, and the company has now taken over one of London’s biggest underground train stations to off the new console and its games. However, it has backfired for Nintendo as fans focus on an error in one of the ads.

Nintendo fans passing through Oxford Circus underground station have been confused as one ad says that the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is “out now.” The game doesn’t have an official release date, and all we know so far is it’s coming later in 2025.

Nintendo’s ads stretch down a platform at the station showing off titles such as Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World, and Super Mario Party Jamboree: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. There are also ads explaining key features of the console, including the new GameChat feature.

(Credit: Orchestar / Reddit)

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond’s billboard is the fourth at the station, and it appears these titles are in release order. It starts with the new Mario Kart, followed by Donkey Kong Bananza, which is coming on July 17, and then Super Mario Party Jamboree, which is set to land a week later. It may be that this ad was meant to read “coming soon,” but there was an error somewhere in Nintendo’s process.

The ad itself doesn’t provide any further information about the game. It says the game supports Switch 2 mouse controls, 4K support in TV mode, up to 120 frames per second gameplay, and there’s HDR support.

Social media is rife with people speculating about how this ad could have been published with an inaccurate date, but we’ve yet to hear directly from Nintendo. Some suggest it may be Nintendo intended to cover over the wording with a “coming soon” sign, or it may be a templating issue where designers accidentally used the same format as the Mario Kart ad and forgot to change the wording.

Marketing campaigns like this one go through many stages to be signed off, so it’s remarkable this error made it to the final stage and was published. All we know for certain is that the ad is wrong, and we’re still not any closer to getting a release date for the next Metroid game. The game will be playable on both the original Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2.

Months ago, I speculated that Nintendo planned to release a new, mainline Donkey Kong game on Switch 2—and I was right. Instead of a Mario game, the console’s debut first-party platformer is Donkey Kong Bananza, a title starring the famous gorilla. Let’s cut to the chase: Donkey Kong Bananza was the best game I demoed at Nintendo’s Switch 2 event a few weeks back, and it is a reminder that Kong is as much of a star as the plumber.

Donkey Kong’s New Design and Vibrant Graphics

In Bananza, Donkey Kong explodes onto the scene with the redesigned look first seen in the Super Mario Bros. Movie (it’s also on display in the excellent Mario Kart World). His eyes are expressive, and his fur has a pleasing, almost feather-like texture. The first stage is in a gold mine, so he wears a cool miner’s outfit.

Kong isn’t the game’s only attractive element. Both stages I played featured eye-popping colors and detailed particle effects for flying mud, cracking crystals, and sparkly bananas. It will look great on your 4K TV.

Bananza’s Super Mario Odyssey-like Gameplay

Although it’s not confirmed, I highly suspect Nintendo’s Tokyo team developed the game, the same folks behind Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Odyssey, and the extremely underappreciated Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Bananza’s vibrant cartoon world, full of life and character, has strong Mario energy. But it’s also chaotic and tactile in ways that scream Donkey Kong, especially when you dig into the gameplay.

Donkey Kong Bananza is a 3D platformer with 2D barrel blast and mine cart sections similar to Donkey Kong Country. However, the demo build emphasized Kong’s more muscular offensive actions, not just leaping from platform to platform. If Mario is about bouncing around on legs, Donkey Kong is about fists. Kong pounds and punches his way through materials and crawls through mud to uncover collectibles. Bananza takes place inside the layers of a hollow Earth that’s entirely destructible, thanks to Kong’s raw strength. Goodies could hide anywhere.

That’s not to say the game is Nintendo’s take on brainless violence, though. One level tasked me with ripping chunks from explosive rocks and tossing the makeshift bombs to solve puzzles and beat bad guys. Using this technique, I aimed at the boss’s weak, exposed points and tore apart its brittle bones.

Kong can also roll into a ball and climb on surfaces like in Breath of the Wild. I didn’t need to use all these skills in the demo, but they felt good. I’m curious to explore them. Kong even gains a cute little talking rock companion, but its function is currently unknown. Note that Donkey Kong Bananza is a Switch 2 exclusive. For more on the Switch 2’s power, check out Switch 2 vs. Switch 1: What’s the Difference?

(Credit: Nintendo)

Price and Release Date

I’m an absolute sicko for Donkey Kong. For more than 25 years, I’ve awaited a 3D adventure that washes away Donkey Kong 64’s bad taste. Fortunately, Donkey Kong Bananza is shaping up to be that dream game, and I don’t need to wait long to play it.

Donkey Kong Bananza will be released on July 17 for the Nintendo Switch 2. The game costs $70, which aligns with current industry trends—unlike Mario Kart World’s shocking $80 price tag.