Splatoon 3: Grandfest Results Breakdown and Retrospective

What’s most important to you? The past, the present, or the future? 

That’s the question that Splatoon 3 asked its global playerbase over this past weekend’s Grand Festival (the biggest Splatfest ever)– and boy howdy, did the Splatoon players have a definitive answer. Team Past won in a solid victory, with Team Present sitting in a comfortable second place. Team Future, though they fought well, ended up squarely in last.

Event-exclusive title screen says whaaaat.

For those unfamiliar with the Splatoon franchise (think C.O.D. but with less bullets and more…cod), a Splatfest is a weekend-long event that occurs nearly every month, where all the game’s players divide into 3 teams based on their responses to a prompt question, such as What would you bring to a deserted island? or What’s the best kind of chocolate? Each team is led by one of the three idols from Deep Cut, the game’s main band and emcees. Over the course of the weekend, the teams battle it out to decide once and for all which is the winning answer. Unlike in previous Splatoon games, the winning Splatfest team is decided by a variety of factors– including popularity, win rate, and overall points accrued during battle, among others.

The results of this Grand Festival were clear– despite the overwhelming popularity of Team Present (who claimed nearly 60% of the playerbase, including me), Team Past absolutely crushed the competition in every single battle category. And I have to say, having gone up against them? They absolutely deserve this win. You guys were scary good. I can’t say I’m too surprised, though– the team representatives of Grandfest seem to have played a big role in what team players decided to join. Since Grandfest seems to be the final big Splatfest of Splatoon 3, the Splatoon developers pulled out all the stops to make it memorable– not only were there new animations and battlegrounds, but also an entirely new lobby (exclusive to the weekend’s festivities), two new songs, and the full return of the headlining idol groups from the previous two games. Since there were three total idol groups participating in Grandfest, each idol group took charge of their own team. And who was in charge of Team Past? The Squid Sisters, the original idols from the very first game– a very enticing factor for those who’ve been part of this franchise since day one, and have the skills to consistently crush their opponents. 

All the idols performing together. From Left: Marina (Off The Hook), Callie (Squid Sisters), Big Man (Deep Cut), Frye (Deep Cut), Pearl (Off The Hook), Shiver (Deep Cut), and Marie (Squid Sisters). 

Team Future may have struggled for the exact same reason– they were led by Deep Cut. They might be the current game’s idol group, but they’re also the group we’ve seen the least of overall– they had only a minor presence in the game’s single-player campaign, far overshadowed by the Squid Sisters. They were also completely absent from the recent Side Order DLC, which revolved entirely around Off The Hook, the idol group from Splatoon 2. Deep Cut has a lot of spirit, but they lack the same pull that the other idol groups have, as evidenced by their team size– not even 20% of the playerbase.

Team Present’s overwhelming popularity can very likely be attributed to Off The Hook’s popularity– they are the idol group we’ve seen the most characterization for, through two plot-heavy DLCs (Side Order and Octo Expansion) over the last two games. We may not have won, but we gave it our best shot– and I’d like to point out how close some of those battle scores were (two of those game modes were decided by less than a 2% difference in wins).

Deep Cut announcing the winners. So close, and yet so far...

Quick sidebar– can we talk about the Grand Festival music? Not only were there entirely new releases just for this event, there were also remixes of older songs, sung “live” by the idol groups in the game’s lobby. As a longtime player, it was both nostalgic and bittersweet to witness the different idol groups perform– I think I spent just as long standing in the lobby listening to the music as I did playing the actual game. And while they’re not on Spotify, you can bet that I’ll be listening to these songs on a Youtube playlist for at least the next several months.

Lastly, I have some good news for the dedicated Splatoon players– while the Grand Festival may be the end of major game updates, it is far from the end of Splatoon 3! The official Splatoon twitter account tweeted shortly after the Grand Festival ended, saying that seasonal Splatfests would continue, as would other large-scale in-game events, such as Big Run, Eggstra Work, and monthly challenges. So while there may not be any more new weapons or catalogs to unlock, the multiplayer scene will live on, as we (hopefully) await news of a Splatoon 4.

All images captured by me in-game.

Congrats again to Team Past, and happy splatting!