With Splatoon Raiders coming to Nintendo Switch 2 this week, producer Seita Inoue and director Yoshihiko Ito have revealed more details about why the team didn’t simply make a Splatoon 4 instead. Speaking with Nintendo in an Ask the Developers post, the duo said that they simply wanted to work on a new approach to Splatoon rather than yet another iterative sequel.
One of these new approaches would be to work on a PvE-oriented experience that could expand on concepts that were otherwise confined to game modes like Salmon Run or Story mode in the previous Splatoon games.
“We’ve been going full speed ahead for over 11 years since the series’ launch, developing and updating three titles along the way,” said Inoue. “We thought it might be interesting to create something with a slightly different approach to gameplay, where you can really savor the action on your own. Splatoon isn’t just about competitive play; it also includes cooperative modes like Salmon Run and a single-player Story Mode. “
“So, one of our motivations for developing this game was our desire to create a new entry point into the series by releasing these non-competitive elements not just as a secondary feature, but as a standalone spin-off. That said, we will continue to develop competitive gameplay going forward. That’s why we developed this game as a spin-off and not as ‘Splatoon 4.’”
Ito mentioned that Salmon Run served as the foundation on which the Splatoon team could experiment to ultimately come up with gameplay for Splatoon Raiders. The fact that it was being made for the Nintendo Switch 2, giving the developers more access to raw horsepower, also meant that the team could introduce new challenges, like ramping up the number of hostile Salmonids.
“Originally, around the time our work on updates to Splatoon 3 was winding down, we were exploring whether we could develop a single-player experience that players could dive into to their heart’s content, leveraging the gameplay of Salmon Run. Salmon Run is a part-time gig for squids, where four players* team up to take down Salmonids and collect Golden Eggs.”
“We thought that if we could adapt it for single-player, it might result in something hectic yet exhilarating. We’d discussed developing the next Splatoon game for Nintendo Switch 2, and that being the case, we thought we could really take advantage of the system’s performance. This prompted various experiments, such as ramping up the number of Salmonids for the ‘ultimate multitasker’ experience, where a single player battles them all.”
Splatoon Raiders got a brand-new trailer just this week providing an overview of its PvE gameplay. As the trailer explains, players take on the role of a Mechanic working alongside music group Deep Cut, with the entire team working together to discover treasures across the Spirhalite Islands. Alongside classic Splatoon gameplay pointed towards AI-controlled enemies, Splatoon Raiders will also feature an RPG-inspired gearing and progression system that will allow players to experiment with a variety of builds and weapons. For more details, here’s everything you need to know before jumping in.
