Splatoon 3 Cheaters Banned by Nintendo Ahead of Game's Release
Splatoon 3 isn't even out yet, but Nintendo has managed to wrangle up some rule breakers and compromise them to an apparent permanent, digital end. The Splatoon franchise is arguably one of Nintendo's most popular online franchises, if not the most popular. While there are a number of other games that support online play, Splatoon caters to the online crowd in a very specific way with PvP, co-op, hub worlds, and other forms of online interactivity. Most platforms have a dedicated shooter franchise like Halo or Killzone and Nintendo has Splatoon. With Splatoon 3 on the horizon, fans are eager to play the new entry, but Nintendo is already preventing some fans from getting in on the action.
This past weekend, Nintendo released a limited time demo for Splatoon 3, allowing player to get a feel for the game. Some folks wanted more, though. Some players modified the game to create a patch that would allow players to skip the game's tutorial and enter a practice lobby to get a little more action out of the demo. Nintendo supposedly didn't take too kindly to this as it began punishing those who used this user-made patch, outright banning their Nintendo Switch consoles. Nintendo Switch modder OatmealDome even speculated that this may have resulted in a ban from Nintendo Switch Online, though it's not totally clear as of right now. It will likely prevent players from playing the full game when it launches next month.
One particular patch that was being shared around lets you enter the testing range early. It appears to be the most popular ban reason.
— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) August 26, 2022
Given how Splatoon 2 was also able to detect these patches, this is completely unsurprising. Not sure why people thought this was OK to try.
Of course, it's possible this could get lifted when the full game releases, but it's believed this is the start of Nintendo cracking down on Splatoon 3 cheaters and modders. If anything, those who wanted to mod the full game should probably be weary and look at this as a warning from the big N. Only time will tell how the full game will turn out, but it's likely this won't be the last development to this kind of story.
Splatoon 3 releases on September 9th, 2022 for Nintendo Switch. Are you excited for the game? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
[H/T Kotaku]