It’s always shocking when you learn that something you’ve enjoyed is actually much older than you thought it was. In gaming, that happens often with anniversaries, where you wonder how a game or franchise “could be that old.” Today, Nintendo decided to remind fans that today is the 10th anniversary of the Splatoon franchise. This franchise is one of the newest in The Big N’s arsenal, and yet, it’s now one of the most popular series that the company has. When you think about its origins, you’ll understand how shocking that is.
The game was first debuted during a Nintendo Direct during the Wii U era. Gamers weren’t sure of what to make of it, as Nintendo hadn’t done anything like this before. However, once it came out on the console, it sold many millions, so much so that Nintendo sped up production so that the sequel could be in the first year of the Nintendo Switch’s lifecycle. Then, Splatoon 3 came out in 2022 and became the biggest gaming launch in Japan’s history. Seriously, Japan loves this franchise.
Check out the special art that the series received via Nintendo below:
Happy 10th anniversary to the Splatoon series!Splatoon has become one of the most popular series in Japan and is one of the most successful series in Nintendo's library.Nintendo released 10th anniversary art to celebrate!
— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-05-27T16:09:39.297Z
As for the franchise’s future, it’s all but guaranteed that the game will get a 4th entry on the Nintendo Switch 2, and the “Grand Festival” that happened last year in the 3rd entry helped point to what might happen with it. We’ll just need to be patient as we wait for its announcement.
Until then…STAY FRESH!!!!
