Splatoon Raiders Hits Switch 2 July 23 with No PvP

A Splatoon game without competitive multiplayer. Read that sentence again, because I'm still processing it.

Nintendo quietly dropped a new trailer for Splatoon Raiders this morning via the Nintendo Today app, confirming the Switch 2 exclusive will launch on July 23, 2026. The three-minute trailer shows off the Spirhalite Islands, a sun-baked setting that trades Splatoon's urban turf wars for something closer to an action-adventure. You play as the Mechanic, exploring alongside the Deep Cut Trio from Splatoon 3, crafting weapons and tools, and fighting what looks like an entirely new roster of enemies. Frye, Shiver, and Big Man all appear to be usable in combat. Pre-orders go live later today, alongside three new Deep Cut amiibo.

The real headline isn't the date. It's the badge Nintendo slapped on the end of the trailer: "A single-player focused Splatoon game." No Turf War. No Ranked. No Salmon Run. Since its debut on Wii U in 2015, Splatoon has been defined by its chaotic online multiplayer. Stripping that out entirely for a spinoff is a creative risk I didn't expect Nintendo to take, and I think it's the most interesting thing the company has done with this franchise since it created it.

Co-op, but No Competition

Nintendo Life's coverage does note that up to three other players can join you both online and locally, so this isn't a purely solo affair. But the framing is clear: Raiders is built around its single-player campaign first. Co-op exists as a way to bring friends along for the ride, not as the core loop. Every previous Splatoon game treated its story mode as a side dish next to the main course of online battles. Raiders flips that entirely.

I'm more excited about this than I expected to be. Splatoon's movement and ink mechanics have always felt great, but the series' single-player campaigns were often too short and too simple to really show what those systems could do in a non-competitive setting. An entire game built around exploration, crafting, and combat using Splatoon's toolkit has real potential, especially if Nintendo EPD leans into the kind of creative level design that made Super Mario Odyssey's kingdoms so satisfying to pick apart.

The timing matters too. As The Gamer pointed out, Nintendo's second half of 2026 has been looking thin. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream covered April, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book takes May, and now Splatoon Raiders fills the July slot. June remains wide open, with only leaks and rumours pointing toward a possible Star Fox game or an Ocarina of Time remake. Raiders is the only confirmed title in that window, which puts a lot of weight on a spinoff that's deliberately walking away from what made the series a system seller.

There's a version of this announcement that worries me. Splatoon 3 sold over 12 million copies largely because of its multiplayer. Releasing a spinoff with no PvP on a brand-new console, before the install base has really ramped up, is a gamble. If Raiders doesn't deliver a meaty campaign, it risks feeling like a side mode sold at full price. Nintendo hasn't confirmed pricing yet, and that detail will matter a lot.

But the footage looks distinctly Splatoon in all the ways that count. The guns, the brushes, the ink, the colour. The island setting gives it a different visual identity from the neon-soaked Splatsville, and the enemy designs look fresh enough to carry a full adventure. I spotted Big Man in the trailer, which, look, if you know you know. That alone is enough to get me through the door.

Nintendo has confirmed Splatoon Raiders is a Switch 2 exclusive, with no backward compatibility for the original Switch. Three new amiibo, one for each Deep Cut member, launch alongside the game on July 23.