That is according to VentureBeat journalist Jeff Grubb (via the Giant Bomb Show and VGC), who notes that development work on a still-to-be-announced Metroid Prime Trilogy remaster for the Nintendo Switch is basically done.

With Nintendo holding off on releasing it due to QA restrictions (i.e. testing) due to the pandemic, or to time it closer to the announced but still to-be-seen Metroid Prime 4.

This is a fairly easy rumour to believe on the account of Nintendo rebooting Metroid Prime 4's development in 2019, two years after it kicked off -- and switching studios back to the original Prime house Retro Studios. Who started again from scratch.

With that Prime 4's planned release would have got pushed back quite a bit. Not to mention being slowed a little as the industry moved to a work-from-home setup. The easy part comes with re-releasing the Metroid Prime Trilogy about a year before Prime 4, to give fans what they want and introduce new players to what are some of the best first-person action-adventure games of all time.

“The game is done and Nintendo is holding it,” Jeff Grubb said on the Giant Bomb show. “I think Metroid Prime trilogy is done and whether or not Nintendo releases it now or later depends on other factors."

The QA stuff comes from word that Nintendo's quality assurance resources have been limited since the pandemic hit, with the publisher only being able to focus on a couple of impending releases at a time.

Also, with Metroid Dread confirmed for this year, if a trilogy is in the can it makes a lot more sense to have it out next year.