Back in August, I wrote a piece for NAG.co.za where I asked: “So, just how big is Splatoon for Nintendo?” – and basically concluded by saying that it’s really become one of ‘Nintendo’s tentpole franchises – up there with the likes of Mario and Zelda’. Now, if you’re reading this and have only had limited with the Splatoon series I urge you to read the original article for some reasons as to why it has become so big (especially in Japan).

However, if you’re still a bit sceptical… earlier Nintendo released official confirmation that in just three days Splatoon 3 has sold over 3.45 million copies in Japan. As stated in their press release…

This is the highest domestic sales level for any Nintendo Switch software within the first three days.

Yes, it’s only three days and sales could theoretically tale off, especially if the game isn’t well received. However, having played quite a bit already we doubt that’ll be the case. And consider this, even if it does – that means that at least in this early time period, Splatoon 3 was so anticipated that it outsold giant franchises like Zelda, Mario and even Pokémon. And if that isn’t n indication of just how popular Splatoon is, nothing will be.

Look out for our Splatoon 3 review soon and if you would like more info about the game be sure to check out this article where we broke down 11 things we learned from the special Splatoon 3 Direct.