Splatoon franchise fans, don’t worry. The wait is almost over. Depending on when you read this, the wait might already be over. Splatoon Raiders is set to drop soon with access beginning on Wednesday, July 22. Here’s everything you need to know. Let’s talk video games.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Release date: Thursday, July 23, 2026
- Unlock time, U.S.: 12 a.m. ET, which is 11 p.m. CT, 10 p.m. MT and 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, July 22
- Everywhere else: midnight local time
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2, exclusive
- Price: $49.99 digital, $59.99 physical
- Download size: 13.1 GB
- Also launching July 23: three Deep Cut amiibo and a Shiver-and-Frye Joy-Con 2 pair at $99.99
- Metacritic: 81. OpenCritic: 80
What Time Does Splatoon Raiders Unlock?
The fun begins at midnight Eastern on July 23. Nintendo syncs the entire Americas launch to the East Coast rather than rolling it zone by zone, so the whole country unlocks at the same instant.
That instant lands on Wednesday night for three of the four continental zones. 11 p.m. Central, 10 p.m. Mountain, 9 p.m. Pacific, all on July 22.
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Outside the Americas it works the way it usually does. Midnight local time, region by region, which puts New Zealand first and Australia not far behind. Physical copies are the exception everywhere. Once the cartridge is in your hand there is no clock to wait on.
Pre-loads have been running for a while and the file is 13.1 GB, small enough that a same-night download is realistic if you missed the window.
Can You Play Splatoon Raiders Early?
Only through the region trick, and it costs money.
Setting up a New Zealand eShop account gets you in around 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 22, roughly sixteen hours ahead of the U.S. unlock. The catch is that you have to buy the game in New Zealand dollars from that account, which means purchasing regional eShop credit rather than using a U.S. card.
My advice is to remain patient.
Anyone who has done this for a Zelda or Pokémon launch knows the drill. Everyone else is better off waiting for the 9 p.m. Pacific unlock, which is a far shorter wait than the staggered early access windows that other publishers build into launch week.
How Much Is Splatoon Raiders And What Else Launches July 23?
Digital runs $49.99 and physical runs $59.99. There is no deluxe edition, no collector’s edition and no season pass tier, which is unusual enough in 2026 to be worth stating.
Three Deep Cut amiibo arrive the same day. Shiver, Frye and Big Man in Raiders-specific designs, each unlocking outfit options for the Mechanic. A blue and light-yellow Joy-Con 2 pair built around Shiver and Frye’s color schemes also lands July 23 at $99.99.
One more number matters if you don’t own the console yet. The Switch 2 sits at $449.99 and Nintendo has confirmed a U.S. increase to $499.99 on September 1. That gives anyone on the fence about a Switch 2 purchase roughly six weeks.
Is Splatoon Raiders Worth Buying?
Splatoon Raiders has already received a sparkling 9-out-of-10 review score from IGN, which only adds to the excitement surrounding the game’s release. I spoke with one Nintendo and Splatoon fanatic and when I asked him if he was excited for the game’s release he said he couldn’t wait for Wednesday.
Considering the game’s popularity and the loyalty within the Nintendo community, it appears SR is set for a successful launch.
Nintendo Life matched IGN’s 9, and the aggregate settled at 81 on Metacritic and 80 on OpenCritic, which puts the first Splatoon spinoff level with the three mainline entries.
The lowest score came from The Guardian, which handed it two stars out of five, while Giant Bomb landed positive overall with a complaint that the boss fights lean on damage sponges more than puzzles.
The structural change is the thing to weigh. Raiders drops Turf War entirely and builds a single-player loot chase across the Spirhalite Islands, with four-player co-op that scales difficulty by headcount. Some gamers will hate the departure from a more old-school gaming approach.
Nintendo has also said openly that the project doubled as a hardware stress test ahead of whatever comes next for the series.
Pre-loads have been topping the Switch 2 eShop download charts for days without a single copy being playable.
