Odd datamined info in 7.1.0 (multiplayer related), let the conspiracy theories begin

[Grushi]

This thread will contain info found by dataminers regarding potential future multiplayer content, which some people may consider a spoiler, so read at your own risk! And please be careful when discussing this online


In case you're not already aware, dataminers can find data in the updates' files that hints at future content, which has a semi reliable track record.
Recycled Brella and Douser Dualies were already found last season under the codenames Shelter_Focus and Maneuver_Long, Splattercolor Screen had files in the game before it was revealed, Triple splashdoown was discovered because of some splashtag titles that coincided with regular splashdown in some languages. But there's also been some stuff that still hasn't shown up in the game and most likely got scrapped

(final spoiler warning!) In the same update that added the codenames for the new brella and dualies, we also got Saber_Heavy and Stringer_Explosion, which are basically confirmation that we're getting a new splatana and stringer next season, which would round up all the planned updates for the game, giving every class a new main weapon after launch...

UNTIL

https://twitter.com/ashbinary_/status/1770990579574604213 (I hate twitter)
A splatoon dataminer found new splahtag titles in the 7.1.0 update's files, which are apparently for two new main weapons that AREN'T from the splatana or stringer class.

Obviously we don't have much info for now but that might hint at nintendo potentially extending content for the game (we're supposedly only getting one more season). So any thoughts on what this might mean? Are we getting more main weapons in every class again or will there only be a few? Are we actually getting pencil 2?


Also I'm not a dataminer or anything so I'm only repeating stuff I've heard elsewhere

 

[Alphine_Agnitio]

Personally I'm going to take the pessimistic approach and assume this is the dev team testing weapon ideas for splatoon 4/leftovers from Side Order beta, I feel like if we were going to get new weapon type(s) and extended content cycle, it'd have been announced already.

 

[isaac4]

I saw this yesterday and I really have no idea what to think of it.
I mean, it just sounds strange to add 4 new weapons to only two weapon classes. I don't understand it at all unless they announce content extension and add new main weapons to every class again.
It is funny that we could end up with an actual new shooter and charger(pencil 2.0)

 

[chaotik0]

if they extend content updates, what i mainly care about is more kits and fixes for the current stages

the only reason for that is because i thought they only wanted splatoon 3 to last as long as they have already said, so this would just leave them somewhat easy things to do while the rest of the developers work on splatoon 4. they don't like to wait that long in between games so if they weren't going to give a lot of time for it to be released, might as well have as many people working on it as possible. splatoon 3 has had so much missed potential and i want them to take the time and effort to make the next game really good.

they can still extend content for splatoon 3 normally and add what we have been getting previously and do that, which will only make the end of splat 3 and start of splat 4 shift to later dates. there is a way where they can do this right, but given some decisions made about this game i am skeptical, so that's why my opinion is the way that it is

 

[isaac4]

if they extend content updates, what i mainly care about is more kits and fixes for the current stages

the only reason for that is because i thought they only wanted splatoon 3 to last as long as they have already said, so this would just leave them somewhat easy things to do while the rest of the developers work on splatoon 4. they don't like to wait that long in between games so if they weren't going to give a lot of time for it to be released, might as well have as many people working on it as possible. splatoon 3 has had so much missed potential and i want them to take the time and effort to make the next game really good.

they can still extend content for splatoon 3 normally and add what we have been getting previously and do that, which will only make the end of splat 3 and start of splat 4 shift to later dates. there is a way where they can do this right, but given some decisions made about this game i am skeptical, so that's why my opinion is the way that it is

I personally wouldn't want a Splatoon 4 anytime soon. I really don't trust that the quality between 3 and 4 will be significantly better without a big gap in between to let the devs experiment and possibly change their approach so we don't end up with another 7 kits or less every 3 months and new specials added a year after the game launches. Not a guarantee that it won't happen but makes it less likely at least.

 

[missingno]

I would assume we won't get S4 until after the next Animal Crossing game.

 

[chaotik0]

I personally wouldn't want a Splatoon 4 anytime soon. I really don't trust that the quality between 3 and 4 will be significantly better without a big gap in between to let the devs experiment and possibly change their approach so we don't end up with another 7 kits or less every 3 months and new specials added a year after the game launches. Not a guarantee that it won't happen but makes it less likely at least.

yeah i don't want it soon either, i want them to take as much time as they need. i just don't think they will because they have always only left a year between the final balance update of a game and the release of the next

they don't like to wait that long in between games so if they weren't going to give a lot of time for it to be released

splatoon 3 has had so much missed potential and i want them to take the time and effort to make the next game really good.

also i think its really funny how years ago we used to be like "this game needs to come out right now! devs, hurry up!!!" but now we are like "guys please please please don't rush this game im begging you please!!!!". not talking about specifically splatoon with that just games in general

 

[DzNutsKong]

Personally I'm going to take the pessimistic approach and assume this is the dev team testing weapon ideas for splatoon 4/leftovers from Side Order beta, I feel like if we were going to get new weapon type(s) and extended content cycle, it'd have been announced already.

Big doubt that it's leftovers from Side Order. They would have no reason to just decide to patch hollowed-out weapons into the game if the data presumably exists on some other Nintendo computer. I guess there's nothing stopping it from being Splatoon 4 stuff but I kinda doubt they'd want to release Splatoon 4 so soon, and if they did there wouldn't be much point to testing things within Splatoon 3 instead of Splatoon 4. To my knowledge nothing like this has ever happened either.

We don't know anything about the two new weapons so I can't really say much about what I'd expect from them, but one thing this does tell me - third kits are probably gonna happen! Love to see it because honestly I was really starting to have my doubts. Surely there's no way they're going to spread the remaining second kits we have across two full seasons, right?

 

[the splatling kid]

I think splatoon 4 is gonna be a launch title for the new Nintendo console, just like how splatoon 2 launched with the switch.

 

[missingno]

S2 was not a launch title, it came a few months later. I also don't think that's anything you should expect to be a pattern, because the circumstances are quite different. S1 was the Wii U's breakout hit, but was held back by the Wii U itself being a commercial failure, so they wanted to quickly establish the series on the next console. But now that we've had two Splatoons on one system, I would expect it to be a while before the next one. Especially if Switch 2 has backwards compatibility to run S3 already.

 

[a hot mess]

all this talk about the switch 2 is making me sad... X﹏X

 

[Grushi]

if they extend content updates, what i mainly care about is more kits and fixes for the current stages

the only reason for that is because i thought they only wanted splatoon 3 to last as long as they have already said, so this would just leave them somewhat easy things to do while the rest of the developers work on splatoon 4. they don't like to wait that long in between games so if they weren't going to give a lot of time for it to be released, might as well have as many people working on it as possible. splatoon 3 has had so much missed potential and i want them to take the time and effort to make the next game really good.

they can still extend content for splatoon 3 normally and add what we have been getting previously and do that, which will only make the end of splat 3 and start of splat 4 shift to later dates. there is a way where they can do this right, but given some decisions made about this game i am skeptical, so that's why my opinion is the way that it is

I didn't really think of it that way, but I think we can all agree that we'd be more than happy to just get new kits, balance changes, and possibly stage reworks in a content extension. I didn't think they'd give us brand new main weapons, gear, or hell, maybe even new stages, so I kind of wish they'd just save those for the next game, especially if they can fix some of the deeper issues with the game like stage and special design, or making tweaks to the ranked modes themselves.

And it's true that splatoon 3 really lacked new main weapons at launch, so if splatoon 4 can bring back every existing one (rework a few hopefully maybe), and give us a batch of new ones, that'd be more exciting to me

But at the end of the day, if we're getting more stuff I'm certainly not complaining!

 

[briank913]

Datamine also showed Grizz Roller last time, but we got nothing.
Ark Polaris and Lost Outpost were in the code but we got Bonerattle (a great map) as the last SR map.

I'm not trusting anything until I see it.

but if there's anything about an L3/H3 buff then I'll...cautiously listen

 

[Grushi]

Datamine also showed Grizz Roller last time, but we got nothing.
Ark Polaris and Lost Outpost were in the code but we got Bonerattle (a great map) as the last SR map.

I'm not trusting anything until I see it.

but if there's anything about an L3/H3 buff then I'll...cautiously listen

Yeah, that's fair, I'm still fairly confident the grizzco roller will happen since there's even an icon for it in the game iirc.

 

[iVialeko]

I am In the camp that thinks Splatoon 4 isn’t going to release anytime soon, so I don’t think this is anything test related. I am in the camp however that believes Splatoon 3 will receive more content updates. The final fest doesn’t seem to have any indication of appearing anytime soon, (in fact, some of us recently unlocked and had just our first fest in Splatoon 2’s plaza; others have yet to) and we’ve gotten a form of third kits with selective main weapons via collection brands in every Splatoon game. Sheldon’s picks and kensa/different brand collection could easily be enough to extend Splatoon 3 a full additional year. (Sizzle 2024-Sizzle 2025)

As far as the leak goes, it ultimately depends on how much content they are planning to provide us with. They could do a complete do-over and release a new main weapon for every existing class again every season for another full year, or create one more brand new class that launches with two new main weapons, and a third one later on next year.

The latter personally makes more sense to me. It seems like it would be a lot less work for them in my mind to just make a brand new class with 2-3 new weapons and shower some weapon collection kits around them throughout the coming seasons. They could release this new class in Drizzle season 2024 which is the two year anniversary since Splatoon 3 launched, and the Splatana and Stringer class both released with conveniently two new main weapons.

But yeah It just depends on what they wanna do, how much they wanna give us. If they go the adding main weapons to existing classes route, they’re gonna have to do that to every weapon class again for a full year or else it wouldn’t make sense at all to just give per say a new dualie or shooter a second new main weapon when the devs spent two years fairly distributing one per class. (can’t put it past them though to do that at the same time lol)

 

[lilycove]

to clarify the datamine a little, it's two new main weapons that are not the new stringer and splatana that were datamined before. they could be other stringers or splatanas, we don't know yet!

 

[isaac4]

to clarify the datamine a little, it's two new main weapons that are not the new stringer and splatana that were datamined before. they could be other stringers or splatanas, we don't know yet!

Dang, I didn't think about a potential new Stringer or Splatana main weapon to have 4 in total. It probably makes the most sense so that players for those classes have more options to choose from.