Pikmin 4 All Bosses: Development Journey to Release

The Development Journey of Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4’s path to release began in September 2015 when Miyamoto confirmed to Eurogamer that the game was in development. He made the now-famous statement: “It’s actually very close to completion. Pikmin teams are always working on the next one.”

Nintendo confirmed the project through a separate statement: “We can confirm that Pikmin 4 is in development but that is all we can confirm at present.”

Production Challenges

At E3 2016, Miyamoto acknowledged development difficulties: “When we’re in development we have to create a list of priorities and it has been hard to kind of fit that into that list, but we’re hopefully starting to see that on the list now.”

By E3 2017, Miyamoto’s updates became more guarded: “I’ve been told not to share anything about this from PR, but I can tell you it is progressing.”

Development Reboot

According to industry sources in February 2019, the project was rebooted at some point during development. By October 2021, further clarification emerged suggesting the game may have never left experimental stages.

The development likely shifted from Wii U to Switch, requiring adaptation away from dual-screen gameplay. Yuji Kando, the series’ key developer, had minimal substantial credits after Pikmin 3, serving as Chief Director for Pikmin 3 Deluxe while most development was outsourced to Eighting.

Timeline and Release

The game faced multiple priority shifts at Nintendo EPD, particularly during the Switch launch period when resources focused on titles like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, ARMS, and Splatoon 2. Development challenges mirrored Pikmin 3’s troubled production, which took nearly 10 years across multiple platforms.