Last year brought a lot of uncertainty for many facets of the world and everyday life, and for quite some time, things were unclear about how the industry-wide E3 convention would play out during a worldwide health crisis. As the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world last year, many video game companies and organizations had to quickly adapt, and this unfortunately meant the cancelation of E3 2020.
Additionally, Nintendo fans felt largely left in the dark as well, seeing only one major release in Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the time, and until September, it seemed like that was all fans were going to get last year, as the Japanese video game company didn't present any other info on upcoming games for quite some time. However, after Nintendo was confirmed to make an appearance at an all-virtual E3 convention this year, fans are hoping to see new information on Splatoon 3.
Part of Nintendo's noticeable silence was a lack of full-fledged Nintendo Direct presentations for the better half of 2020 and even into 2021, but last February, fans received their long-awaited Nintendo Direct after over 530 days of waiting. As a surprise announcement, the company revealed that Splatoon 3 would be coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2022, and fans on Twitter have now gotten the game trending as they clamor for more information to be revealed come E3 this summer.
While many fans simply wish for new information on the game, like a solidified release date in 2022, others are hoping to see news of a Splatoon 3 Global Testfire. Ahead of the launch of the original Splatoon game on the Wii U back in 2015, Nintendo held an open beta-styled Global Testfire event which allowed players to download and play a demo version of Splatoon online on two separate days during allotted time slots. Additionally, players who pre-purchased the full game during the Global Testfire would receive exclusive in-game items upon Splatoon's official release. Two years later, Splatoon 2 on the Nintendo Switch followed suit with a Global Testfire of its own, running for three days this time.
While the period between the release of Splatoon and Splatoon 2 was rather short, it seems Nintendo is taking a bit more time with Splatoon 3 this time around, as this marks the longest period between entries yet. Of course, this all goes without saying that fans were surprised to see Splatoon 3 announced in the first place, as many felt the series would restrict itself to one mainline entry per Nintendo console like so many other Nintendo IPs have in the past.
Just earlier today, E3 officially confirmed appearances from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Ubisoft, Konami, and more big names. Although this year's event will be entirely virtual, The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) hopes to hold E3 in person once again next year. Regardless, this year's convention will surely prove to be an interesting moment in video game history.
Splatoon 3 is set to release in 2022 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.