While Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze just debuted on the Nintendo Switch this year, it has been a long time since we've gotten wind of a new project that Austin, TX based Retro Studios is working on. We know Metroid Prime 4 is coming eventually, but Nintendo was tight-lipped about the title at this year's E3. While no news may seem like good news, the employee reports for Retro Studios over on Glassdoor.com seem to indicate a different picture entirely.
It's worth noting that these are anonymous reports that are posted by current and former employees of Retro Studios. There is no way to verify if these reports are authentic, but the fact that more than one review discusses the same problems makes it seem like it could be a legitimate concern that employees are facing.
One review is dated June 2, 2018 and says "they are all but shutting down, the management doesn't know crap about gaming other than the CEO." This specific review mentions Nintendo requiring lootboxes and microtransactions in their upcoming game, which seems like an odd direction for the company to take. While Nintendo has embraced some of the more indisidious monetization practices with its mobile titles, they have yet to do so with the Switch.
Another review dated May 14, 2018 stated "half the team is expecting Nintendo to shut it down and the other half is hoping Nintendo sees the elephant in the room and changes management." So it seems as though the managing body of Retro Studios may be causing some headaches both for Nintendo and its lower level employees. This isn't good news at all, so hopefully Nintendo can get a handle on what's going down at Retro that so many employees seem unhappy.
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