Nintendo fans have been circling June 30 on their calendars for weeks, and the day is finally here. Nintendo is streaming a dedicated Splatoon Raiders Nintendo Direct today, giving Switch 2 owners their most detailed look yet at the single-player survival adventure before it launches next month.
The Direct kicks off at 7 a.m. PDT / 10 a.m. EDT and runs approximately 15 minutes. Right after that, Nintendo Treehouse: Live takes over with an extended gameplay session, so you're looking at a solid block of Splatoon content to start the morning.
What Nintendo is about to show off
Splatoon Raiders is a Switch 2 exclusive and a notable departure from the series' multiplayer roots. This one is built around single-player survival and treasure hunting across the Spirhalite Islands, where players take on the role of a mechanic working for the Deep Cut trio: Frye, Shiver, and Big Man. The job involves building gadgets, crafting wild contraptions, and throwing a lot of paint at Salmonids, the aggressive sea creatures longtime fans know from Salmon Run in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3.
The Direct is expected to break down gameplay systems in detail, which matters here because the mechanics are genuinely different from anything the franchise has done before. The Treehouse stream that follows should give a longer, unfiltered look at how those systems actually play in practice.
The July 23 launch package
Splatoon Raiders releases on July 23. Nintendo has priced the digital version at $49.99 and the physical version at $59.99, fitting the tiered pricing structure the company introduced with Switch 2 software.
The launch day lineup goes beyond the game itself. Nintendo is releasing three new amiibo figures on July 23: Splatoon Raiders versions of Frye, Shiver, and Big Man, each priced at $24.99. The Deep Cut trio previously got amiibo treatment back in 2023 for Splatoon 3, so this marks their second round in plastic form. A new pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers in a blue and light yellow colorway is also dropping the same day.
From announcement to arrival
The gap between announcement and launch has been just over a year, which is a tight turnaround by Nintendo standards. The original reveal came with enough detail to confirm the game's survival-adventure direction, but not much else. Today's Direct is where Nintendo fills in the blanks: combat mechanics, progression systems, how the gadget-building actually works, and whatever surprises the team has held back.
The Treehouse session is worth watching if you want the unscripted version. Nintendo Treehouse broadcasts tend to run longer and show messier, more representative gameplay than the polished Direct footage, which is useful for a game with systems this unfamiliar to the Splatoon fanbase.
With July 23 less than a month out, today is effectively Nintendo's last major opportunity to build momentum before launch. The Direct format suggests a structured reveal, while the Treehouse follow-up signals confidence in showing the game running at length. Both streams are live on Nintendo's YouTube channel starting this morning.
For more Nintendo Switch 2 coverage and guides across the biggest games hitting the platform, the ARC Raiders page is a good reference point if you're tracking the extraction shooter space alongside Nintendo's summer lineup. You can also browse our full gaming guides hub for everything else dropping this season.
