Despite someMariosports-sized hurdles along the way, Nintendo’s had a pretty good year so far in terms of first-party releases. The beginning of the year sawPokemon Legends: Arceus, March sawKirby and the Forgotten Land, andXenoblade Chronicles 3has just dropped. But as the year moves into its latter half, Nintendo is getting ready to strike up the release-day orchestra once more, as fans are about to receive another handful of first-party exclusives - one of which is the eagerly anticipatedSplatoon 3.
Announced back in February 2021,Splatoon 3is the next installment in Nintendo’s vibrant, paint-splattered competitive shooter series, and this time, there’s more content than ever. As well as the usual multiplayer modes,Splatoon 3is adding the fan-favoriteSalmon Run horde modeto the game, as well as a full single-player campaign for the first time in series history.Splatoon 3is only a month out, but for some odd reason, Nintendo has gone oddly quiet on the game.
RELATED:Splatoon 3 Needs to Be Content Complete at Launch
Splatoon 3 Has Gone Dark
Splatoon 3is set for a June 17, 2025 release, and by all official accounts, it’ll almost certainly make this release date. But this does make Nintendo’s recent silence on the game feel a little odd. There have been four trailers forSplatoon 3so far, with the first appearing alongside its announcement in February 2021. This trailer gave players their first brief look at the sequel’s improved customization, its multiplayer mode, and an impressive single-player story mode.
Nintendo then went dark, and anotherSplatoon 3trailer wasn’t debuted until September 2021, where the game’s Turf War mode was shown off in some more detail. The game’s campaign, now titled “Return of the Mammalians” was also given some more details. Another half-year gap then occurred, withSplatoon 3’s third trailer not coming until a February 2022 Nintendo Direct, which showcased the game’s Salmon Run: Next Wave mode. Themost recent trailer forSplatoon 3was released in April 2022, meaning that it’s been around four months since fans last saw the game.
While this isn’t completely out of the ordinary for a AAA game, it is a little odd fora first-party Nintendo game. With only a month to go beforeSplatoon 3is released, fans may have been expecting a little more information on some of the game’s more mysterious features, specifically its brand-new campaign, which hasn’t had a lot revealed about it. It’s often the case that a first-party Nintendo game gets at least one Nintendo Direct focused solely on the game, detailing all that fans can expect when it releases.
While there’s still time for Nintendo to publish a Direct focused onSplatoon 3’s various modes and new features, it seems a little unlikely this close to launch. As a comparison,Pokemon Scarlet and Violetare releasing on June 22, 2025, and they’ve already had three trailers,the latest of which broke downPokemon’s newest setting. The silence currently surroundingSplatoon 3is certainly a little odd, but it shouldn’t be anything that fans should worry about all too much about. Based on the footage that has been released so far, it seems as thoughSplatoon 3is going to offer another wonderfully bright and chaotic shooter experience. Still, hopefully that silence is broken beforeSplatoon 3’s September 9 release date, as a lengthy trailer breaking down all the features of the sequel would surely be welcomed by fans.
