Splatoon 3 release date announced for September

Inklings and Octolings fighting in Splatoon 3
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Splatoon 3, the third installment in Nintendo’s inky third-person shooter series, will release on September 9.

Nintendo made the announcement with a new Splatoon 3 gameplay trailer.

It gives us a look at the game's new 4 vs. 4 Turf War mode, which challenges competing teams to cover the most ground in their ink. 

Watch the gameplay trailer below.

You can spot one of Splatoon 3's new stages, Eeltail Alley, in the trailer, alongside a glimpse of the new Stringer weapon in action. The bow-like weapon lets you sling ink sideways and vertically.

As well as competitive multiplayer matches, Splatoon 3 will also continue the series' singe-player campaign, which follows Agent 3 in their fight against the Octarians.

Co-op mode Salmon Run will play a bit like a horde mode, in which you and your buddies will have to fend off waves of Salmonid bosses, which get progressively larger in size.

Nintendo has also announced the Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion DLC is now free for everyone who owns the base game and is an active subscriber to Nintendo Switch Online's premium Expansion Pack tier. If that's you, you'll be able to download it free from the Switch eShop.

The expansion spans 80 mission and has you lead Octoling Agent 8 through a mysterious underground testing facility.

Callum Bains
Gaming News Writer

Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.