Nintendo may not have announced a release date forSplatoon 3, but thanks to a confirmed summer 2022 window, fans at least know the wait will be over soon.Splatoon 3clearly has strong roots inSplatoon 2, since it borrows and expands on major content like Salmon Run, but it still promises to supply a lot of original content including creative new weapons and a story mode with a mammal-centric twist. Odds are also good thatSplatoon 3will get many new features after launch considering Nintendo’s history of supportingSplatoongames with in-game events and DLC.
It could take some time before Nintendo revealsSplatoon 3’s long-term additional content, but whatever form it takes, hopefully it’s robust.Splatoon 3looks like a step forwardfor the franchise, and it deserves multiple years of strong events and expansions from Nintendo rather than a brief period of support. That’s a lesson worth learning fromAnimal Crossing: New Horizons' surprisingly short run. Rather than stopping work onSplatoon 3within two years of its release, Nintendo ought to devote resources toward expanding and improvingSplatoon 3for many years.
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Lessons From Animal Crossing: New Horizons
As of this writing,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis the second best-selling game on the Switch, and it’ll likely hold onto that throne for some time. That’s why it’s strange to think Nintendo supported the game for such a relatively short time. All told,New Horizonsonly got about a year-and-a-half of additional content before the 2.0 Update arrived as its last major expansion. That’s a stark contrast toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate’s many years of DLC fighters and evenAnimal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which released in 2017 and still gets new content.Splatoon 3support needs to last a long time, rather than fizzling out after less than two years.
The pacing ofNew Horizonsexpansions could teachSplatoon 3a valuable lesson too.Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 2.0 Updateprovided tons of valuable, compelling content, but its sheer scale made it incomparable to previous updates. As a result, some players felt intimidated by the update’s scale, which made actually getting back intoNew Horizonsand enjoying the 2.0 Update harder.Splatoon 3deserves flashy, large-scale updates in its lifetime, but ideally they’ll be more equivalent to one another and paced in a way that ensures fans don’t get overwhelmed.
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Splatoon 3’s Content Potential
When it comes to expandingSplatoon 3after its release, Nintendo certainly isn’t short on options.Splatoonfans will always appreciate more weapons to wield in the game’s frantic multiplayer battles, soSplatoon 3could add them on the regular to constantly renew interest in combat. Aside fromthe returning Salmon Run,Splatoon 3could add all kinds of new PvP and PvE modes as well, of Nintendo may consider adding additional campaigns akin toSplatoon 2’sOcto Expansion.Much likeAnimal Crossing: New Horizons,Splatoon 3will undoubtedly have room to grow, even if it’s an excellent game at launch.
With all those content options in mind, it’s clear that distribution will be the biggest hurdle forSplatoon 3’s ongoing content. Whatever types of new features and events Nintendo decides to add in the long term, the updates shouldn’t outclass one another in terms of scale. More importantly, additional content ought to keep coming for a long time.Animal Crossing: New Horizonshad some excellent expansions after release, but there’s still room for improvement when it comes to distributing those expansions. As a young IP,Splatoondeserves the best post-launch content lineup that Nintendo can muster.
