Why I’m Skepitcal About Splatoon 3, Former Nintendo Employee Agrees

When it comes to Splatoon, I wouldn’t say I’ve loved the franchise. It’s been a good amount of fun for a few hours, but my lack of skills makes playing online a bit of a crapshoot. I’m glad the series exists, though, because it has been one of the better new Nintendo IPs in a long time. A third release in the franchise is enough to prove that. But watching pre-launch videos from Nintendo regarding Splatoon 3 has me a bit concerned.

When Splatoon 2 launched, there were a few good inclusions to make it feel better and more fleshed out than the original. I’m not getting the same vibe from Splatoon 3. The game feels like a large DLC package that, if someone never told you it was a brand new game, you’d be forgiven for saying, “I didn’t realize Nintendo was releasing more Splatoon 2 content!”

And I am not the only one who feels this way. Former Nintendo of America and Nintendo Minute host, Kit Ellis, tweeted out a similar thought:

My expectation with a sequel is that you’re taking a big step beyond what you did in your last game, and what you’re introducing goes further than what you could do in an update. There’s still time, but I can’t say I’ve seen that yet from Splatoon 3.

— Kit Ellis (@kitosan) April 22, 2022

You could forgive Nintendo for launching a brand new title as opposed to releasing DLC, however. And to be fair, they wouldn’t be the first company to do something like this. That being said, I still hope Nintendo is going to do something substantially different than Splatoon 2 so that when I grab my copy of Splatoon 3, it feels new and refreshed. To me, there could be nothing worse than dropping a 79.99 CAD on a brand new game in a franchise only to say, “This feels like the last one.”

I get it, sometimes you don’t need to fix what isn’t broken. And while I agree with that statement, perhaps we need to ask why Nintendo needs to release a Splatoon 3 at all?

What are your thoughts on Splatoon 3? Let us know in the comments!