New Retro Studios Hires Fuel Donkey Kong Speculation

If you've been keeping up with Nintendo news lately, you've probably noticed that Donkey Kong is having quite the moment. Between the massive success of Donkey Kong Bananza on the Switch 2 and a Donkey Kong theme park expansion already pulling crowds, the IP is riding higher than it has in years.

But here's where things get really interesting: there's a growing case to be made that a brand-new Donkey Kong Country game is quietly in development at Retro Studios, and it could be landing on Nintendo Switch 2 sooner than anyone expects.

Let's start with the job listings, because that's where a lot of this is coming from.

Content creator and gaming industry sleuth Doctre81 has been digging through Retro Studios' recent hires, and what he's found is worth paying attention to. A few weeks back, a listing surfaced showing Retro was looking for someone with a focus on environmental storytelling, the kind of language that's typically associated with Metroid Prime development, since that franchise is built on that exact style of worldbuilding.

That naturally got people talking about Metroid Prime 5. But now there's a second listing that's shifted the conversation. Retro Studios posted a role for a concept artist specializing in boss characters, with the description calling for skills in 2D drawing, composition, and tools like Maya and Blender.

Now, before anyone runs away with the idea that this automatically confirms a new Donkey Kong Country game,or rules out Metroid,it's worth being measured here. Concept art is almost always 2D by nature, so hiring a 2D-focused concept artist doesn't necessarily mean the game being made is a 2D title.

That said, when you start stacking this detail on top of everything else happening in the Donkey Kong space right now, the picture starts to look a lot more pointed. That's where the movie aspect comes in. The Nintendo Company and Universal Studios have registered a copyright for their untitled Donkey Kong movie at the United States Copyright Office. This isn't some kind of speculation; this has been confirmed officially.

Universal Pictures International Spain recently listed a Nintendo Illumination movie for April 2028, and it fits a pattern.

Nintendo has a clear habit of releasing its films in that window: both Mario movies landed around April, and the upcoming Zelda live-action film follows the same trend. What makes this even more telling is that the original listing described it as an "untitled Illumination Nintendo event film" ,and the word Nintendo was quietly removed after that information went public.

Someone clearly didn't want that detail sitting out in the open, which suggests there's something real being protected here. Given everything, the Donkey Kong Park expansion, the success of Donkey Kong Bananza, the filed copyright, and that suspiciously edited listing, a Donkey Kong movie in 2028 looks like a near certainty. And Nintendo isn't the kind of company that lets a major film release go by without something in the games space to match it.

This is where the question of which Donkey Kong game becomes important. A new 3D Donkey Kong title almost certainly wouldn't be ready in time. Donkey Kong Bananza was built by what appears to be a newer team spun off from the Mario Odyssey crew, and based on the game's credits, that team has been confirmed as largely separate from whoever is working on the next 3D Mario.

A follow-up 3D Donkey Kong game would realistically need more time than the 2028 window allows. A new Donkey Kong Country game, on the other hand, is a much more realistic candidate. These side-scrolling games ,think Donkey Kong Country Returns or Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze ,are less expensive and faster to produce than a full 3D experience.

Retro Studios, the team behind both of those titles, still has that expertise.

They've also kept the series active on Switch by releasing Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and keeping Tropical Freeze on the platform. They haven't let that brand go dormant, and that feels deliberate. Nintendo has a well-established habit of cross-promotion. They time game releases to complement films and use big IP moments to build momentum across multiple platforms.

A Donkey Kong Country game dropping alongside or just ahead of a Donkey Kong movie would be exactly the kind of move that gets people who just left the theater rushing to the Nintendo eShop. It builds excitement in both directions. The game reminds you that the movie is coming, and the movie makes you want to go back and play the game.

Retro Studios, with their history in the Donkey Kong Country series and their continued involvement in keeping it relevant, is the natural fit to deliver that game. And with all of this context in mind, a new Donkey Kong Country title arriving within the next couple of years on Nintendo Switch 2 isn't just wishful thinking. It's starting to look like a pretty logical conclusion.