Metroid Prime: Federation Force game director expected a negative reaction to the game

When Metroid Prime: Federation Force was first revealed for the Nintendo 3DS fans were not pleased with the game that they were getting. The community was looking for a 'proper' Metroid game and that was not what they got. So, someone started a petition calling for the games cancellation (no it didn't work).

After the reaction from the community, the subject of fans being displeased with the game became a topic that was addressed in interviews with people associated with the game's development or executives at Nintendo. Nintendo of America's President and COO Reggie Fils-Amie explained that Federation Force wasn't the game fans expected, but once they got their hands on the game it would change their minds.

In an interview with CG Mag Online, Federation Force's game director Kensuke Tanabe echoed Fils-Amie's thoughts, but did admit that he had expected the game to be ill-received. Tanabe went on to say that fans would feel differently after hands-on time with the game.

First off, I had in mind and expected that people would sort of act in a negative way when they find out that Samus was not an actual player. What I see happening is that once the players can actually have hands-on experience with the actual game, they’ll be able to understand and experience for themselves how the game actually feels and that the Metroid Prime universe atmosphere is there, and the music that is used in the game is also heavily related to the Prime series of course so while people would at first say, “oh this isn’t what I expected,” they’ll definitely understand the different perspective that we’re taking here and it’ll certainly make a difference once you get some experience with the game.

It''s interesting to see that the game was revealed with full expectation of an upset in the community. If the game depends entirely on people getting their hands on it, Nintendo better have a free demo if they want it to sell.