Splatoon Raiders debuts at UK No.1 in first week on Switch 2

Nintendo's Splatoon Raiders has shot straight to the top of the UK games chart in its debut week, with GfK Chart-Track confirming the Switch 2 exclusive as the No.1 software title across all formats for the week ending 25 July 2026. The third-person shooter, released on 23 July, displaced Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced from the top spot in its very first week on sale.

How the chart shook out

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced dropped to No.2 following Raiders' arrival, while Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream climbed to No.3. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate landed at No.4 — though its presence there is partly explained by discounted stock clearance following the collapse of UK retailer GAME into administration the previous week, a factor that distorted several chart positions. EA Sports FC 26 slid to No.5, Pokémon Pokopia fell one place to No.6, 007 First Light dropped from No.3 to No.7, and Mario Kart World rounded out the top eight at No.8. GfK did not disclose physical unit sales figures for any title.

What Splatoon Raiders actually is

Developed and published by Nintendo EPD, Splatoon Raiders is a deliberate departure from the competitive multiplayer formula that has defined the Splatoon series across its three mainline entries. Players choose to be either an Inkling or Octoling mechanic and explore the Spirhalite Islands alongside Deep Cut — the trio of Shiver, Frye, and Big Man who appeared in Splatoon 3. A cooperative mode supports up to four players locally or online, with difficulty scaling depending on how many are present.

The game is Switch 2 exclusive. The physical cartridge contains the full game — not a Game-Key Card download code — and requires at least 13.1 GB of storage on the Switch 2's onboard memory or a microSD Express card if downloaded digitally. UK pricing is set at £49.99 physical and £41.99 digital.

A new Deep Cut amiibo triple-pack also launched alongside the game on 23 July, featuring updated designs of Shiver, Frye, and Big Man, with bases that combine to display all three figures together.

Why Nintendo made a spin-off and not Splatoon 4

Nintendo has been unusually candid about the creative thinking behind Raiders. In the Ask the Developer Vol. 22 interview published by Nintendo, director Yoshihiko Ito explained the origins of the project:

"Originally, around the time our work on updates to Splatoon 3 was winding down, we were exploring whether we could develop a single-player experience that players could dive into to their heart's content, leveraging the gameplay of Salmon Run. Salmon Run is a part-time gig for squids, where four players team up to take down Salmonids and collect Golden Eggs. We thought that if we could adapt it for single-player, it might result in something hectic yet exhilarating. We'd discussed developing the next Splatoon game for Nintendo Switch 2, and that being the case, we thought we could really take advantage of the system's performance."

Producer Seita Inoue was equally direct about why Raiders carries a spin-off label rather than a numbered sequel: "That's why we developed this game as a spin-off and not as 'Splatoon 4.'" Inoue also hinted, however, that Splatoon 4 will be the next step for the team — suggesting the franchise's multiplayer future on Switch 2 is still to come, though Nintendo has made no formal announcement.

A record-breaking Metacritic reception

Less than a week after launch, Splatoon Raiders had climbed into rarefied territory on Metacritic. The spin-off carries a 9.3 average user score — seventh on the site's all-time list and higher than any other Nintendo-published game ever tracked there. The previous Nintendo record holder was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, with a score of 9.2. According to Forbes, the score had since risen to 9.4, which would place Raiders second on the all-time list behind only Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at 9.5, though the figure has been in flux as votes accumulate.

It is worth noting that the user score rests on a relatively modest pool of around 691 ratings, with 94% positive. Some commentators have flagged that early-adopter enthusiasm can inflate scores before a broader audience has had time to weigh in.

On the critic side, Raiders settled at a Metascore of 81, which Metacritic categorises as "Generally Favorable." OpenCritic shows a Top Critic Average of 83, with 87% of critics recommending it. IGN and Nintendo Life both awarded 9/10, praising the customisation and gameplay loop, while The Guardian scored it as low as 40/100.

What it means for UK buyers

Splatoon Raiders is the first full-price, standalone single-player Splatoon game — which removes the competitive multiplayer barrier that has kept a significant portion of the potential audience at arm's length since the series launched. At £41.99 digital or £49.99 physical, it sits below the upper end of Switch 2 game pricing, making it one of the more accessible exclusives on the platform so far. The hard requirement remains Switch 2 hardware, so anyone still on the original Switch will need to factor in the cost of upgrading. And with producer Inoue signalling that Splatoon 4 is the next logical step for the team, Raiders looks increasingly like an appetiser — a polished solo experiment while the full multiplayer sequel takes shape.