The most recent Nintendo Direct has been received incredibly favorably by fans, dropping several big-name announcements such as Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and a new Fire Emblem Warriors set in the same world as Fire Emblem: Three Houses. For fans of Splatoon, they were given a new, albeit short look at this year’s Splatoon 3.
The trailer didn’t reveal an awful lot of new information and was completely focused on the returning Salmon Rush co-op mode, which will be introducing some new boss type enemies like a giant, Godzilla-like Salmonid. However, some fans believed that the trailer contained a hint towards the game’s release date.
An exact date wasn’t given during the Nintendo Direct, but a now deleted Reddit post claimed that a QR code could be spotted at the 55-second mark in the trailer, located in the top left corner of the screen on the UI. The code is too fuzzy to properly scan, but the poster provided what they said was an enhanced version of it. Upon scanning it, users were taken to a page that said Splatoon 3 will release on August 18.
Turns out the whole thing was actually faked. While the code did work, others pointed out that the supposed QR code in the trailer and the one the initial Reddit poster shared were completely different. It’s now looking far more likely that it’s not even a QR code to begin with. As IGN points out, the same symbol can be seen in the very first Splatoon 3 trailer in the same position of the UI, suggesting that it’s probably part of the game’s art style rather than any sort of Easter egg.
An August release date isn’t necessarily outside the realm of possibility. As it stands, Splatoon 3 is scheduled for this summer, meaning it could arrive anywhere from June to August. Since June is E3 time, fans could see a release date at Nintendo’s E3 presentation, assuming E3 actually takes place this year.
Aside from Salmon Rush, Splatoon 3 will retain the usual turf war gameplay, where two teams compete by covering as much of the map with their own colored ink. There will also be a new single player mode, with its title of Return of the Mammalians suggesting that mammals, which are nearly extinct in the Splatoon series, will be returning. Classic characters like Callie and Marie will be returning as well, with those two in particular sporting slightly new designs.
Splatoon 3 releases for Nintendo Switch this summer.