Is Retro Studios working on something big for Wii U?

Retro Studios was one of Nintendo's top game makers for the GameCube and Wii, shocking the world with Samus’ stunningly great rebirth in the Metroid Prime trilogy. After finishing the series in 2007 with Metroid Prime 3, the dev also released Donkey Kong Country Returns and helped on Mario Kart 7, but what’s next for the company? Thanks to some internet sleuths, we’re starting to get some clues, and it looks like it could be something big.

According to a NEOGAF post, several new members of the exclusively Nintendo-owned studio were found online, including artists that worked on Uncharted 3 and Darksiders. Rumors swirled in April this year that Retro was working on something for the Wii U, and hires like these add credibility to that. Given the power of the Wii U, hiring artists familiar with PS3 and 360 development makes sense, and based on their experience with AAA releases, this potential game doesn’t sound small.

So what could this mean? Is the team returning to its Metroid roots and recreating the series for the tablet controller? FPS controls could work well with Nintendo’s next console. Or will the dev keep working on the Donkey Kong Country series? DKC Returns did sell almost 5 million copies. Or will it be something entirely original tailored especially for the Wii U? And will whatever it is be a Wii U launch game?