The Nintendo Switch has had many successes over its near 18-month life, but one of the most popular by far is Splatoon 2. The sequel to one of the best-selling games on Wii U (and yes, that is saying something) was highly anticipated when it came out. And as of the last financial briefing, is actually the fourth-highest selling game on the Switch. And interest for it was brought to another level when it was revealed that the game would get more content via the Octo Expansion.
For those who don’t know, the Octo Expansion had you playing not as an Inkling, but an Octarian, who were/are the enemies of the Inklings in Inkopolis. But this one was different, and wanted desperately to be free of the bonds of their species. According to Producer Hisashi Nogami, work on the expansion happened right after the main games’ launch:
“So we began development on the Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion after we had safely launched the Splatoon 2 main game. And at that time, we had a number of gameplay ideas as well as story elements that we wanted to continue to flesh out and so we used the opportunity of the Octo Expansion to continue work on those.”
This was a big departure for the series at the time, for while both Splatoon and Splatoon 2 had a story mode, you couldn’t say it was the deepest thing around. But with the Octo Expansion, the game got much more in-depth with the lore of the universe, including detailing the backstories of some key characters like Marina from Off the Hook and Cap’n Cuttlefish.
So to hear them talk about how they started working on this after the main game’s release is pretty cool, as it shows they didn’t want to rely on the regular updates and Splatfest’s to keep people entertained. And because of that, Splatoon 2 will likely sell well for the rest of the systems life.
