I think that "fans" have killed the franchise.
When Hunters came out, everyone bitched "I'M LEFT-HANDED! I CAN'T PLAY THIS GAME DESPITE HAVING 8+ DIFFERENT CONTROL SETTINGS!"
When Corruption came out, everyone bitched "omg it's an FPS!!!1".
When Trilogy came out, there were people who SERIOUSLY kept saying that a 4:3 joypad-only first-person-whatever game was better than a 16:9 wiimote porting because the american version cut 3 (THREE) minor special effects to cut off space.
Finally, when Other M came out, everyone bitched about the baby thing.
Bottomline? According to the internet, none of these games deserved to be played for minor stuff. Sure, Other M had some annoying pixel-hunting sessions and the story was different than the usual. But really, is the game unplayable just because the developers decided to go to a deeper kind story?
I liked the game. It was not a masterpiece, but I liked it. And I think that the internet "fan"base is the reason of why we won't see another Metroid game. That, and the fact that most of the people I know who played this game didn't even buy it. Talk about hypocrisy here...