Multiplayer Metro Games Won't Be "Generic," Dev Says

Developer 4A Games has opened up about the multiplayer Metro game it's working on following the sale to THQ Nordic parent company Embracer Group earlier this month.

In response to a series of questions submitted by Video Games Chronicle prior to the Embracer Group acquisition, executive producer Jon Bloch said the multiplayer Metro game won't be a "generic" experience created just to fulfill a co-op requirement.

"We've dabbled in these thoughts in the past. Prototypes were made but never really got anywhere," Bloch said. "We wouldn't want to just make a generic multiplayer for the sake of doing it. And we wouldn't want something to feel tacked on just to tick a box."

Bloch also added that multiplayer requires the same amount of resources as single-player games. If the multiplayer game came to fruition, Bloch said it needs to be "done right" before it's included.

"We appreciate that having a multiplayer mode takes an entire team the same size as the single-player experience, and just as much time," he said. "Doing both at the same time would require some significant changes, and most importantly we would not want to sacrifice the quality, scope, or experience of the single-player experience of Metro for something like this. If we did explore this further, it would need to be done right."

Embracer Group paid $36 million USD in cash for 100 percent of shares in 4A Games, with the acquisition being officially completed by Embracer subsidiary Saber Interactive. At the same time as the buyout, 4A announced that it will develop a multiplayer Metro game next, followed by "more ambitious new IP." Information on both projects remains unknown for now.

The latest entry in the Metro series was last year's Metro Exodus, which received an 8/10 score in GameSpot's Metro Exodus review. The game's second expansion, Sam's Story, launched earlier this year and follows deuteragonist Samuel "Sam" Taylor as he treks through various dilapidated locations to find his way home.

The previous Metro games, Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, came to Nintendo Switch earlier this year. 4A said there are no plans to port Exodus to the console-handheld hybrid as that would require an "intensive redesign of Metro Exodus to make it work."