Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational Announced for E3 2017

Nintendo is finally ready and willing to embrace esports for its new platform, announcing a Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational to take place at E3 2017.

Nintendo is finally ready and willing to embrace esports for its new platform, announcing a Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational to take place at E3 2017.

Four squads have been invited to participate in the competitive event from North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand. The Japanese team has already been confirmed, with the remaining squads expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.

This will be the first international tournament for the game weeks before its official release in the following month. There was already chatter about Nintendo pursuing the esports dream for Splatoon 2. The upcoming invitational confirms the company’s intentions, with possibly many more tournaments to arrive in the future.

However, the Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational is not the only tournament taking place for fans at E3 2017. Nintendo has also announced the Arms Open Invitational, a second competitive event based around its new fighting game franchise. There is no information on how Nintendo plans to pick “Elite Players” for the tournament, due to the fact that the game is still unavailable worldwide.

The Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational will take place on June 13, shortly after the company is done with its Treehouse announcements. The Arms Open Invitational will commence from the next day. Both tournaments will be hosted at the company’s booth on the show-floor, giving fans the opportunity to experience the action up close and live. For those unable to attend in person, the matches will be streamed live.

Arms is scheduled to release on June 16, with Splatoon 2 arriving afterwards on July 21 for the Switch.

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is expected to feature some of the biggest upcoming games; including Destiny 2, Death Stranding, Crackdown 3, God of War, and The Last of Us Part II. You can read a rundown on our predictions here.

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...