- Nintendo is introducing a new feature called Tournament Manager to improve the multiplayer experience in Splatoon 3.
- Tournament Manager will facilitate the creation and running of private competitions, including bracket creation and round progression.
- The service will also automate the process of setting up Private Battle rooms and provide automatic reports of match results.
A new feature called Tournament Manager is on its way to Splatoon 3, according to Nintendo. The incoming addition promises to further improve select aspects of Splatoon 3's multiplayer experience.
Released in September 2022, the third installment in Nintendo's third-person shooter franchise has been met with fan adoration and critical acclaim alike. The title was a particularly big hit in its developer's home country, as previously illustrated by the fact that Splatoon 3 was Japan's most downloaded Switch game in 2022. Nintendo hasn't been resting on its laurels following that success, as Splatoon 3 has been enjoying steady updates ever since.
One such upcoming addition to the game will arrive in the form of a service called Tournament Manager meant to facilitate the process of creating and running private competitions. The feature was teased in an update to the official overview of the Splatoon 3-focused Nintendo Direct that took place in August 2022. First spotted by dataminer OatmealDome, the updated version of the page states that Tournament Manager is envisioned as a service that will support competition bracket creation and round progression, as well as automate the process of setting up Private Battle rooms for tourneys.
[Splatoon 3]
— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) July 26, 2023
Nintendo has announced that they are developing a service known as "Tournament Manager".
It will create tourney brackets, open Private Battle rooms, and report match results completely automatically.
For more info (scroll all the way down): https://t.co/9EfG3q8955 https://t.co/hr45QeMAY5 pic.twitter.com/tpYe5HNBuA
Tournament Manager will also offer automatic reports of match results, as per the same source. While Nintendo has yet to elaborate on how all of that functionality will work in practice, the company did confirm that Tournament Manager will act as a link between Splatoon 3 and the SplatNet 3 app. Its existing feature list is labeled as still being subject to change, and it is currently unclear when exactly the service is planned to go live.
In the meantime, a similar Tournament Manager teaser shared by Nintendo's Japanese branch revealed that the platform will even have its own logo. The graphic was designed like a shield-shaped emblem featuring the yellow squid from the Splatoon 3 logo flanked by two yellow arrows curving upward.
Nintendo hasn't outright confirmed that Tournament Manager will work offline, although that's presumably the case. For clarity, Splatoon 3 offers limited offline multiplayer functionality, as both its Salmon Run and Turf War modes boast local co-op support. The only catch is that the game doesn't have split-screen multiplayer, so every player needs to have their own Switch. This was also the case with the previous entries in the series going all the way back to the 2015 original for the Wii U.
Splatoon 3 is available on Switch.
