A new Splatoon game is on the way, and just as interesting as the announcement is the way it was made. Nintendo revealed the upcoming Splatoon Raiders on its Nintendo Today app, which is typically used to show concept art and other Nintendo ephemera.
Splatoon Raiders is the first-ever spinoff of the main Splatoon series, and it’s set to be a Switch 2 exclusive. While Splatoon typically pits players against each other in multiplayer paint battles, Splatoon Raiders instead puts them in the boots of a mechanic exploring a place called the Spirhalite Islands. Only the briefest glimpse of gameplay was revealed, which showed familiar concepts like shooting paint and quickly swimming through it.
Nintendo hasn’t come out and said it, but it certainly looks like Splatoon Raiders will be the first game in the series to be purely single-player. Players will be accompanied by Deep Cut, a trio of pop stars who previously appeared in Splatoon 3. The trailer focuses on Deep Cut crashing on a remote island, and there’s no hint of multiplayer battles.
Along with the new game reveal, Nintendo also announced a major patch for Splatoon 3. The version 10.0 update launches on June 12, adding enhanced visuals and improved performance for the game on the Switch 2. It also adds 30 variants of existing weapons and brings the original Splatoon’s Urchin Underpass map into the game.
The strangest part of all this is how Nintendo chose to reveal its announcements. In March, the company launched the Nintendo Today app, which it billed as a way to share daily updates. Almost immediately, Nintendo used it to announce the release date for The Legend of Zelda movie, but aside from that reveal, the app has mostly featured far less substantial posts. On the day of the Splatoon Raiders reveal, for instance, the app also featured a visual guide to the first world of Super Mario Bros., a few pieces of Metroid Dread concept art, and a video from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang touting the Switch 2’s hardware.
Even Nintendo Today users could have easily missed the Splatoon announcement. In the app, it appears as a video called Research Report from Squid Research Lab, which looks more like a short marketing trailer than a major game reveal. Nintendo has always operated uniquely, releasing niche products with no buildup (remember the Alarmo?) and remaining notoriously tight-lipped about how it reveals information. The Nintendo Today app feels like a natural extension of those impulses.
Nintendo Today launching just ahead of the Switch 2 also seemed like a signal that it will be a big part of this console generation. Nintendo hasn’t had much to reveal in the two months between the app's launch and the console's launch, but now that the Switch 2 is out in the world, Nintendo Today could become a key source of information.
Nintendo is also leaning on another app — simply called the Nintendo Switch App — as a way for players to connect, share screenshots, and even interact with games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If the announcement of Splatoon Raiders is any indication, Switch players should expect Nintendo’s apps to play a more important role in how they learn about and play games on the Switch 2. Make sure you have your phone near you when you sit down to play.
