What time does Splatoon Raiders release in your time zone?
Splatoon Raiders, the first spinoff in Nintendo's Splatoon series, launches for Switch 2 on Thursday, 23 July 2026. The game sends players to Salmonid-infested islands to hunt for treasure, and can be completed solo with the help of in-game characters such as Big Man and Shiver, or cooperatively with friends.
As with other eShop releases, Nintendo has not confirmed an exact launch time, but titles typically go live at midnight in the easternmost time zone of each region. For UK players, this means the game will unlock at midnight BST on 23 July. Players can access the game earlier by purchasing from an eShop in a region further ahead in time, such as Australia, though Polygon recommends setting up a separate Nintendo account for this rather than unlinking an existing one. Pre-ordering also allows the roughly 20GB file to be preloaded ahead of release, though no pre-order bonuses are being offered in the US.
- Splatoon Raiders launches on Switch 2 on 23 July 2026
- UK players can access it from midnight BST
- Preloading is available after pre-order; no US pre-order bonuses offered
New here? Start with this
Splatoon Raiders is a new game in Nintendo's Splatoon series, but unlike the main games it's a spinoff built around exploring islands and battling creatures called Salmonids to collect treasure. It's coming to the Switch 2 console and can be played alone, with help from computer-controlled characters, or together with other players online.
The story here is practical rather than about the game's content: it's about pinning down exactly when the game becomes playable, since Nintendo doesn't publish a precise launch time for its digital releases. Historically, these unlock at midnight in whichever time zone is furthest east within a given region, which is why the article works out what that means for different places, including the UK.
It also touches on a few related practicalities familiar to anyone who buys digital games, such as how some players use accounts registered in other countries to get earlier access, and how pre-ordering lets the game download in advance so it's ready to play the moment it unlocks.