Splatoon 3 Announces Halloween Splatfest

Splatoon 3 is bringing back its seasonal Halloween Splatfest, which it refers to as Splatoween. Fans will be able to participate in a 48-hour Splatfest to determine which spooky theme reigns supreme in Splatoon 3.

Splatfests are one of the most exciting elements of the Splatoon series. While repeat themes don’t tend to inspire as much enthusiasm from fans, they do pose an interesting opportunity to shake up the results of prior Splatfests. Between players changing teams from the original run to matches shaping up differently due to weapon adjustments since the first version, there’s a lot of room for variance.

Splatoon 3 Brings Halloween Splatfest Back

Splatoon 3 has now announced the return of the Halloween Splatfest, aka Splatoween, which will begin on October 24 at 6 pm PT/9pm ET. The event will run for a full 48 hours, coming to an end on October 26 at the same time. This run will be a repeat of the theme from Splatoon 3‘s first Halloween Splatfest, posing the question of which spooky creature would make the best friend: zombies, skeletons, or ghosts. Players can’t yet officially choose their teams, as the game usually allows players to start doing so about a week before a Splatfest.

Splatoon 3‘s last run of this particular Splatfest theme saw Team Ghost take home the win. However, that doesn’t mean that the same result will hold up this time around. In addition to players potentially changing how they play and which teams they join, Splatoon 3 Splatfests were retooled with the 7.0 update, altering how match wins, votes, and Conch Shells are calculated towards the winning score. For example, the first time this theme was held, Team Zombies originally ended up with 0 points overall. However, Team Zombie landed in second place in two categories, which would have rewarded it with 105 points if it had used the current judging system. While this wouldn’t have been enough to significantly change the outcome, the winner this time around is anyone’s guess.

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Like all Splatfests, Splatoween’s return is likely to be popular in the game, though many fans’ attention may remain focused on Splatoon Raiders. The spin-off game featuring the idols of Splatoon 3, as well as a new playable character, was announced for the Nintendo Switch 2, but nothing has been said regarding it since. Given Nintendo still has major hitters arriving for its consoles in 2025, like Kirby Air Riders, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, and the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Splatoon fans may want to curb their expectations and not expect anything significant to be announced for Splatoon Raiders until 2026.