Nintendo's having a bit of holiday fun at the expense of Splatoon fans, it seems. "Splatoon 3" is currently trending on Twitter for a disappointing reason. At least, it'll be disappointing for Splatoon fans. Splatoon 3 is, of course, not an officially announced game. It's not even officially confirmed to be in development. Yet Splatoon 3 is trending nonetheless. The reason why is due to what was supposed to be a special holiday message that first created excitement and then disappointment.
The entire situation started with what should have been a heartwarming message from Nintendo to Splatoon fans for the holidays. In a post to the official Nintendo Instagram account, a new art piece showing three popular Splatoon characters in holiday fare was shared. It's the Squid Sisters Callie and Marie, along with Off the Hook's Pearl. Alone, it's a charming photo that Splatoon fans would appreciate just for the holidays, but Nintendo took it one step too far.
In the Instagram post's text section, Nintendo wrote the following: "The stars from #Splatoon and #Splatoon2 are staying fresh, even if it's frosty! But where's Marina?" Given the greater video game community's propensity for reading into hints and teases, it's understandable that excitable Splatoon fans took Nintendo's message the wrong way. Splatoon 3 began trending as a result, as fans considered the possibility that Marina's absence from the photo meant she might be pulled into some sort of teaser for a sequel.
There was no sequel teaser, of course. About 12 hours after the first piece of art was posted, Nintendo posted a second. The new piece of art featured Marina in addition to the other three Splatoon characters. Marian is seen holding a phone -- she was the one taking the photo that was the first piece of art. "Ah, there she is, selfless as always! Merry Squidmas from the #Splatoon2 team!" was the connected message. Naturally, Splatoon 3 trended all the stronger as fans reacted with both frustration and requests for Splatoon 3's announcement.
That's the reason that Splatoon 3 is trending in the days leading up to Christmas. There's no announcement to be found, unfortunately. It's just Nintendo, likely intentionally, taking a bit of advantage of a fandom's hope for news about a sequel. This kind of viral marketing isn't too uncommon anymore. It's just a shame that it's happening during the holidays. Hopefully, Nintendo willing, Splatoon fans will eventually be delivered the news they really want to hear in 2020.
Splatoon 2 is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch.