If you plan on being a first-adopter for the Nintendo Switch come March 3rd, you're going to be in for a special treat thanks to Nintendo opening up early access to another highly anticipated game. They're doing so through a global play-test for a Nintendo Switch exclusive.
According to Shacknews, the exclusive is none other than Splatoon 2. The multiplayer, third-person shooter will receive a global test session for Nintendo Switch users between March 24th and March 26th over the weekend near the end of the month.
The play sessions will be broken down into six different times, including two sessions that will be available on March 24th between 12:00 am and 1:00 am PST, and 8:00 pm through 9:00 pm PST. On March 25th Nintendo Switch users will be able to log into Splatoon 2 and play between three different sessions throughout the day, including a session that starts at 4:00 am through 5:00 am PST, another session in the afternoon that goes from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm PST, and another from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm PST. On the final day, there's just one session between 4:00 am to 5:00 am PST.
The times are definitely unusual but they're global times, so they're trying to fit in schedules where everyone might be able to participate. This means for some time zones players will have to either stay up really late or get up really early.
The preview tests will be similar to what Nintendo has been showcasing during the Nintendo Switch tours they've been showcasing around the world. This includes having four different weapons at your disposal, and a look at some of the new maps that will be featured in the game. According to Shacknews, the weapons include Splat Dualies, which are the new dual-wielding paint guns, the Splat Roller and the Splat Charger. You can get a brief look at some of the content in the teaser trailer for the global test below.
Splatoon 2 is scheduled to release this summer, so obviously it's going to be an early build of the game. Most people suspect that this is Nintendo's way of jumping in early to make sure that the multiplayer works as intended before launch. They actually didn't have any problems with the first Splatoon when it launched on the Wii U back in 2015, but then again the Wii U didn't have nearly as big an audience, and the game only ratcheted up a large number of players post-release. So they didn't have to worry about server flooding on day one.
With the Nintendo Switch, things are a little bit different. The 2 million SKUs they've already set aside appear to have already been sold out, based on most preliminary reports regarding pre-order stocks from retailers. So if they manage to move up to 4 million SKUs by the summer, Splatoon 2 could end up having a very large amount of players ready and willing to play right out of the gate.
Nintendo seems to be prepping for a large multiplayer contingent, which is why they're running the multiplayer test at the end of March.
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