With the recent success of MercurySteam's Metroid Dread, it has been announced that the Spanish developer is currently working on a brand new dark fantasy third-person action RPG and has partnered with Control publisher 505 Games for the project.
Announced via a press release by Digital Bros, the parent company of 505 Games, the next game by MercurySteam is codenamed "Project Iron," which will be set in a dark fantasy world. No further details are included in the announcement, though it does say that the project's initial investment amounts to 27 million euros, which comes out to around 30 million dollars.
“We are thrilled to work with the team at MercurySteam, a proven studio that over the years has created numerous phenomenal IPs – including the recent hit release Metroid Dread in partnership with Nintendo,” commented Raffi Galante and Rami Galante, co-CEOs of Digital Bros Group. “With MercurySteam’s creative vision and talent and 505 Games extensive experience, gamers can expect a high-quality, captivating and engaging videogame.”
MercurySteam's most recent title released was the critically acclaimed Metroid Dread, which has been nominated for two awards at the Game Awards 2021: "Best Action/Adventure Game" and "Game of the Year." The studio has previously worked on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, as well as 2017's Metroid: Samus Returns. 505 Games has published a variety of different games, including the previously mentioned Control, as well as Payday 2, Ghostrunner, and its upcoming sequel, No Man's Sky on Xbox One, and Death Stranding on PC. This is the first time that the studio and publisher will be teaming up on a project.
The latest outing by MercurySteam was a big hit, with Metroid Dread debuting as October's third best-selling game in the US and, according to Doug Bowser, President of Nintendo of America, the "best start for any Metroid game ever" selling 854,000 copies in its first month. Thanks to Famitsu, it is also known that the Switch title has sold 128,257 physical copies in Japan after its first month, outselling every other game in the series in Japan. With their experience and recent success, it will be exciting to see what the studio can bring with this upcoming Project Iron.
Project Iron is still in its early stages of development with no update or release windows currently announced. Metroid Dread is currently available on Nintendo Switch.