In spite of the announcement that major development on the game was complete, Splatoon 2 is far from dead. The game is still immensely popular worldwide, especially within Japan. In fact, at the Nico Nico Tokaigi 2019, the Splatoon Koshien was held for the fourth consecutive year with GG Boyz coming out as champions, alongside a concert from the in-game musical performers Off the Hook. Alongside tournaments and concerts, there were also a few announcements related to Splatoon 2 to ensure its continued popularity during this event, including a week-long Splatoon 2 online trial.
Between March 26 and April 1, Japanese players who are yet to jump on the Splatoon bandwagon can download a free demo from the Nintendo eShop in order to experience the game for themselves. Included with this demo is a free trial to the Nintendo Switch Online service and access to all of the online modes included within the full release. Players will be able to experience standard Turf War gameplay, all four of the game’s ranked modes and the co-operative Salmon Run mode. Players will even be able to transfer over all their data into the final release if they later decide to purchase the game following their experience.
Coinciding with this news is the addition of brand new weapons for all players of the game. These new weapons are lifted from the original Splatoon game on Wii U that were added as part of the ‘Sheldon’s Pick’ series of weapons, which offered variations on standard-issue models of their equivalents. Ten new weapons will come to the game at some point in the near future thanks to this announcement.
Nintendo has a lot of faith in the Splatoon franchise and has been promoting it heavily ever since its debut as one of the few high points of the Wii U’s lifespan. The game has proven itself to be a system seller within Japan for both Wii U and Nintendo Switch, having been the most popular game on both systems, while remaining a popular title in other countries as well. Even if main development is complete, it is in Nintendo’s best interests to continue pushing this game to be as big as it can be, and these new weapons alongside this demo should certainly help in that regard. So far the demo itself hasn’t been announced for any other regions, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if this were to happen.