Splatoon just celebrated its 10th anniversary, with the original game having been released on Wii U back in May 2015. Following that game, Nintendo released two additional series entries on Switch, and fans are understandably curious to see what the future holds. A new game on Nintendo Switch 2 seems like a guarantee, but nothing has been announced at this time. That hasn’t stopped fans from speculating though, and some believe we’ll be seeing an announcement in the near future. Everyone is pretty much desperate for news, and fans are pointing to Nintendo’s social media celebration as evidence that the developers are cooking up something new.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Splatoon, Nintendo released a new piece of anniversary art on social media featuring many of the iconic characters that have been introduced across the three games. The image not only includes early favorites like Callie and Marie, but also later characters like Acht. Splatoon’s social media posts are done from the perspective of the Squid Research Lab, and the anniversary post continues this trend. Text accompanying the image says that the Lab “will continue our research” which is focused on “studying the ecology of the Inkling.”
Some fans are interpreting the Lab’s suggestion that Inkling research is ongoing as proof that development is underway for a new game. It might not be definitive evidence, but fans are kind of desperate at this point. Regardless, Splatoon 4 is a pretty safe bet at some point, even if it hasn’t been formally announced. The series has sold more than 30 million copies across three games, and Nintendo is going to want to keep interest in the series alive. New content updates for Splatoon 3 largely came to an end with last year’s Grand Festival Splatfest. That event generated a lot of speculation about the next series entry, and fans have been patiently awaiting news of a Nintendo Switch 2 sequel.
It’s worth noting that Splatoon 2 was one of the earliest games released on the original Switch, launching in the summer of 2017. Splatoon 2 was able to build off the success of the original game, and likely helped to generate a lot of interest in the new Nintendo system, especially in Japan where the series is very popular. Given how many first-party games have already been announced for Nintendo Switch 2, it seems unlikely we’ll see Splatoon 4 before the end of 2025. However, it’s possible that plans could be underway for 2026.
Nintendo should have some announcements to make over the next few weeks. The company will have a presence at Summer Game Fest this year, and rumors have suggested that a Nintendo Direct livestream will take place early in the month of June. Hopefully the company will have something to announce for Splatoon fans, but we’ll have to wait and see.
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Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/splatoon-4-tease-nintendo-switch-2-announcement/
