Earlier this week Nintendo made an unprecidented move by announcing that Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the long-anticipated follow-up in the beloved JRPG series, would launch two months earlier than intended in July 2022. The game was originally slated for a September release, as announced during the last Nintendo Direct in February. This led fans to wonder about the status of Splatoon 3, another big Nintendo game slated for summer, and if it would instead take Xenoblade Chronicles 3's September release window. Nintendo has now, surprisingly quickly, confirmed fans' suspicions and announced that Splatoon 3 will release on September 9th, 2022.
Splatoon 3 was first announced during the February 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, where it was revealed that the game is set after the final Splatoon 2 SplatFest event. The trailer also revealed the new Ink Bow weapon that can be used in both the game's single player and multiplayer components. Since this initial reveal, Nintendo has revealed details on the game's single player campaign, Return of the Mammalians, the game's new hub world named Splatsville, and the newly revamped Salmon Run mode that was first introduced in Splatoon 2.
Splatoon 3 Reveals Co-Op Gameplay in Extended Trailer
Despite this, there is still a lot Nintendo has yet to reveal regarding the game. While revealing the release date today, Nintendo also shared a three and a half minute gameplay trailer for the game that showcases a single full match of Turf War multiplayer. This clip not only showcases the surprisingly improved visuals over Splatoon 2's despite launching on the same hardware, but also shows more of some of Splatoon 3's new game mechanics and elements previously teased in other trailers such as the new grappling ability, and a spider mech charged ability.
So far Splatoon 3's gameplay is looking like a steady evolution of its predecessors while also raising the bar for the creativity found in the multiplayer shooter genre. There is definitely still more to see however, as fans have yet to get a glimpse at the new idol characters like the first two games' Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie, and the second game's group Off the Hook with Pearl and Marina.
It seems like a safe bet that Splatoon 3 will get highlighted at an upcoming Nintendo Treehouse presentation, should Nintendo choose to host one this summer as it did during E3 last year. E3 itself has been canceled this year, so it's not yet known how Nintendo will approach making announcements this summer.
Splatoon 3 will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on September 9th, 2022.