New Interview confirms updates to conclude next month

[Cadet Strongarm]

It is a bit worrisome that Nintendo is planning on stopping updates for Splatoon in January. It's worrisome because it could mean that Nintendo is going to ignore the current Splatoon to work on a sequel for the NX or something along those lines. I'm hopeful that isn't the case though. I'd like to see Nintendo continuing to do Splatfests every few weeks and updating the game to make changes as needed. I'm hoping that Nintendo believes in Splatoon's popularity enough that they won't let it just die down after all this work.

it's why this seems fishy to me....Splatoon was such a great game and a success for nintendo that ending all support for the game so soon seems a bit stupid
especially since it's an online focused game and with Smash And Splatoon's updates ending in January/February it's almost like they are ready to unveil the NX

 

[Silentium]

so will 2016 truly be the wii-u's final year or will they have more surprise hits like splatoon? they gotta be confident in themselves to stop support in january

At the very least we'll hear more on the NX at E3 of next year. If they do something similar as with the Wii U, it'll be at about two years from now (18 months from next E3) until the NX releases. So we have a considerable amount of time left for the Wii U.

As for new Splatoon content, just because they said they have nothing planned past January doesn't mean that they many not add anything else past January, though the chance is small. In any case, there's still a lot to cover in Splatoon and there's a lot of replayability, so I would doubt that the player base would take a sharp nosedive.

 

[Cadet Strongarm]

i doubt the player base will vanish over night but if all we have too look forward to is balance changes and bug fixes in the near future....where's the excitement for that?

 

[Glass Eater]

There is no reason to believe they will recycle Splatfest's unless they are literally willing to shoot their own game in the foot.

A new Splatfest theme is NOT the same as creating new content like new courses.

 

[Airi]

it's why this seems fishy to me....Splatoon was such a great game and a success for nintendo that ending all support for the game so soon seems a bit stupid
especially since it's an online focused game and with Smash And Splatoon's updates ending in January/February it's almost like they are ready to unveil the NX

I've been feeling like Nintendo is probably going to announce the NX for real in early 2016 and it's kind of shaping up to look that way~ :) I'm not sure how much I'd count Smash 4 into it though. Didn't Smash 4's announcements end because Sakurei was stepping down as the director of the series? It could be possible that Nintendo will end Smash 4 because he's stepped down or it could be possible that they'll find a new director for a new installment onto the NX.

There is definitely no way that Nintendo is abandoning Splatoon though. They would have to be completely stupid to do that and Nintendo is much smarter than that. The new Super Mario Maker/Splatoon bundle in Japan has helped sales in Japan soar. Splatoon alone has helped the Wii U soar and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide in under a year - at least 1 million of those in Japan alone. :)

 

[Cadet Strongarm]

true but if the developers are ready to leave behind splatoon for the sequel now....what's going to keep things fresh in 2016?

 

[Hitzel]

Haven't we known that the Updates are stopping in January for months now?

 

[PolygonGeorge]

Haven't we known that the Updates are stopping in January for months now?

Yeah think you're right. But I think the "news" here is that there wont be paid content either, which I think people assumed would be coming.

Edit: I know I certainly assumed there would be an octolings paid dlc.

 

[AidanC97]

I åm stårting tø like the gåme even møre then i did, ånd ålready it's cøming tø ån end? Åt leåst the Splåtfests will cøntinue but i wånt åt leåst møre stuff until february pleåse?

 

[SupaTim]

I'm a little confused by the language of "the game is dead/dying" when free updates end. People are suddenly going to stop playing because all the content has been released? The game still exists. The game is still addictive. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Silentium]

I'm a little confused by the language of "the game is dead/dying" when free updates end. People are suddenly going to stop playing because all the content has been released? The game still exists. The game is still addictive. I'll believe it when I see it.

What's being meant is that the player base will decrease once when the update ends. By how much, we don't know.

 

[SupaTim]

What's being meant is that the player base will decrease once when the update ends. By how much, we don't know.

Right, we don't know. Every game in the history of games has dealt with attrition. A game like splatoon is good enough and has enough replay value to barely care about "content updates." There is a ton of content already out that hasn't even been adequately explored, or if it has, hasn't been analyzed and documented. There is plenty to do in the game as it is, and there will be an influx of new players at Christmas. I doubt they will become bored in one month.

But hey, at this point it's just your opinion against mine, no real data to back anything up. So whatever.