Splatoon 3 cheaters are already getting banned

It looks like Nintendo is already cracking down on Splatoon 3 cheaters.

Although we're still weeks away from the formal release, Nintendo dataminer OatmealDome says the developer is already taking action against anyone who tries to play a modified version of Splatoon 3, including "total bans" from its Nintendo Switch Online service, which you need to access Splatoon 3 multiplayer.

"Splatoon 3 has anti-cheat in place," OatmealDome tweeted over the weekend (thanks, Nintendo Life). "Nintendo is beginning to issue console bans (possibly total ban from [Nintendo Switch Online]?) to players who modified the game.

"I won’t be going into much detail about how it works, since anti-cheat relies on security through obscurity."

"One particular patch that was being shared around lets you enter the testing range early," they added. "It appears to be the most popular ban reason. 

"Given how Splatoon 2 was also able to detect these patches, this is completely unsurprising. Not sure why people thought this was OK to try."

Did you see the news that Splatoon 3 fans think they've uncovered a full (and puzzling) map of its in-game world?

We've all seen the tiny, tiny texture that resembles a map in the Ammo Knights store in Splatsville in the new Splatfest demo, but dataminers combing through the minutiae of Splatoon 3's upcoming Splatfest have managed to locate a high-resolution file of the same map.

As Hirun suggested at the time, the strange geography - which sees large parts of Canada, Asia, and Australasia missing - may tie in with some of the promotional material we saw back in February 2021, where we saw a topped Eiffel Tower amidst a ruined Earth, hinting that Splatoon 3's world may be a bit different to the one we all know. 

Have you tried Splatoon 3 out yet?

"It's early hours for what Splatoon 3's promising, but the signs are great so far. Small, subtle changes to Salmon Run, the multiplayer test area, and gear loadouts will go a long way to making the final experience easier to play – and for longer," Hirun wrote in the GamesRadar+ Splatoon 3 preview.

"It's impossible to tell whether Splatoon 3 has learned the right lessons from Octo Expansion right now, but the foundations are laid for the campaign to move seamlessly onto bigger and better things."

Splatoon 3 is set to launch on September 9, and it's one of our most anticipated upcoming Switch games for 2022.