Nintendo chose a Splatoon spin-off over Splatoon 4 simply because it wanted a change

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Splatoon Raiders producer Seita Inoue and director Yoshihiko Ito have discussed why the team chose to focus on a spin-off game rather than the series' next mainline entry, and basically, it's just because they wanted to. One of the big draws of developing the single-player spin-off, Splatoon Raiders, was that it allowed them to work on something different after 11 years of developing multiplayer games.

In an interview with Nintendo , Inoue discusses how the team wanted to work on a different type of project. "We’ve been going full speed ahead for over 11 years since the series’ launch, developing and updating three titles along the way," he says. "We thought it might be interesting to create something with a slightly different approach to gameplay, where you can really savor the action on your own."

Despite the team's pivot to a single-player game, Nintendo hasn't given up on Splatoon's multiplayer roots, with Inoue hinting that Splatoon 4 will be the next step for the team.

"One of our motivations for developing this game was our desire to create a new entry point into the series by releasing these non-competitive elements not just as a secondary feature, but as a standalone spin-off," he explains. "That said, we will continue to develop competitive gameplay going forward."

Ito previously worked primarily on Splatoon's single-player Salmon Run mode, so it makes sense that he would lead a Salmonid-based spin-off.

"Originally, around the time our work on updates to Splatoon 3 was winding down, we were exploring whether we could develop a single-player experience that players could dive into to their heart’s content, leveraging the gameplay of Salmon Run," he says.

With how frantic the attacks during Salmon Run are, the team started discussing using it as a way to leverage the Switch 2's power.

"We'd discussed developing the next Splatoon game for Nintendo Switch 2, and that being the case, we thought we could really take advantage of the system’s performance," he explains. "This prompted various experiments, such as ramping up the number of Salmonids for the 'ultimate multitasker' experience, where a single player battles them all."

Splatoon Raiders review: "Smartly translates Squidling vibes into a looter shooter I keep coming back to, even if some repetition grates"