Splatoon

Splatoon is a third-person shooter video game franchise developed and published by Nintendo. It is set far in the future on a post-apocalyptic Earth that has been repopulated with evolved marine life and centers around a pair of humanoid races derived from cephalopods known as Inklings and Octolings—squids and octopuses respectively—which can morph between humanoid and cephalopodic forms at will. They often battle one another in competitive sport, using a multitude of weapons that produce and shoot ink while in their humanoid forms or swim through and hide in solid surfaces covered in their own ink while in their cephalopodic forms. The first game in the series, Splatoon, was released for the Wii U on 28 May 2015. A sequel, Splatoon 2, was released for the Nintendo Switch on 21 July 2017, followed by an expansion pack, Octo Expansion, on 13 June 2018. A third game, Splatoon 3, was released on 9 September 2022, followed by an expansion pack titled Side Order, on 22 February 2024. A spin-off game, Splatoon Raiders, was released on 23 July 2026 as an exclusive for the Nintendo Switch 2. The series has received positive reviews for its style, gameplay mechanics and soundtrack, the first two games in the series having been nominated and awarded several year-end accolades from various gaming publications. The series has sold over 30 million copies. Splatoon has spawned numerous collaborations with third-party companies and established its own esports tournament circuit in 2018. It has spawned a manga series as well as holographic music concerts, primarily in Japan.