Today saw Nintendo spark hope that Splatoon 3 news could on its way in 2020. As many gamers will already know, the Splatoon franchise is a Switch exclusive that has so far seen two instalments. Splatoon 2 was the first game in the series to get a story mode and hopes were sparked today that more content was being teased for 2020. This would come in the form of a new game, feature a new story mode and the all-important multiplayer elements.
And there is no reason at this point to believe that Nintendo won’t release a new Splatoon 3 game in the future.
But the hopes that a release date announcement for the project could come next year started today with a simple picture share.
Nintendo posted a festive image of Pearl, Marie, and Callie on social media, with the caption: “The stars from Splatoon and Splatoon 2 are staying fresh, even if it’s frosty! But where’s Marina?”
This gave rise to the fan theory that Nintendo was teasing some kind of new plot for Splatoon 3.
And if they were doing that, it could mean a new Splatoon 3 release announcement was on the way.
It would have made for the perfect holiday gift, considering that Splatoon 2 launched back in 2017.
The Splatoon post sparked plenty of speculation but not everyone was convinced:
“I’m just guessing this has nothing to do with future plot and all that and since it’s the festive season, Marina has simply returned to Octo Canyon to celebrate their own form of Christmas (called Octivus).
“Also Nogami is busy working on Animal Crossing, Splatoon 2 is still being updated until April 2020 (as far as we know) and Splatoon 3 is nowhere going to be completed soon.”
Another added: “Except if you recall the Christmas Splatfest last year, marina specifically stated that she has no family to return to for the holidays.”
All the speculation was cleared up pretty quickly after Nintendo posted another picture on social media, this time showing all the characters you would expect.
Turns out, Marina was just taking the picture and the new posts from the Splatoon team are probably not confirming anything new.
“Ah, there she is, selfless as always! Merry Squidmas from the Splatoon 2 team!” the second post from Nintendo reads.
The good news is that Nintendo didn’t share anything suggesting that we won’t be getting any new Splatoon news in 2020.
But it certainly shows that fans are hungry for new about when the next Splatoon game is coming to Nintendo Switch.