Splatoon

Splatoon is a team-based third-person shooter developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. The gameplay revolves around Inklings, characters that that transform between humanoid and squid forms, hiding or swimming through colored ink sprayed on surfaces using gun or brush-based weaponry. Splatoon is played competitively in a 4-on-4 format, the goal of which is to "paint" the map with the respective teams' color. Whichever team has the greater amount of area painted in their color is declared the winner.

The growth of Splatoon's competitive scene has been limited due to the lack of a spectator mode that makes it harder to cast, as well as the limited exposure of the competitive side of Splatoon altogether. The less-than-stellar support from Nintendo lessened the appeal of Splatoon esports and is reminiscent of their support of the Smash community; no cash prizes in tournaments, and very little publicity for the competitive scene, if any. Nintendo's sponsorship of ESL Go4Splatoon awards winners with t-shirts and other merchandise, with the grand finals in 2017 to be awarded with the new Nintendo Switch console, then called the Nintendo NX.

On October 25, 2016, Nintendo announced the Splatoon Showdown Series in partnership with Battlefy and Leagues Under the Ink. The prizes do not consist of cash prize pools, but Nintendo-branded items such as Amiibos and collectible figures.