Splatoon 3 pre-load – exact release time and file size

After a long five-year wait, Splatoon 3 is releasing this Friday. The game does not completely rewrite the formula, instead adding on to what was already there before and improving various aspects of the previous release. If you want to hop into the game the moment it is available, the pre-load is available now, so you can install it and ink up the place right when the servers go live. Here is the exact time that the game is released and how big the file size is for Splatoon 3.

Related: Splatoon 3 preorder guide – Editions, retailer bonuses, and more

What time does Splatoon 3 release?

While Nintendo has not given a concrete answer on the time that Splatoon 3 will go live, typically, their releases happen at midnight Eastern Time. With that in mind, we expect Splatoon 3 to go live on September 9 at 12 AM ET. Other time zone conversions are below:

• Central – 11 PM
• Mountain – 10 PM
• Pacific – 9 PM
• United Kingdom – 5 AM
• India – 9:30 AM

If you happen to get a physical edition early, you likely will not be able to access the game before this time. Also, this is just going off of past Nintendo releases. Without any official confirmation on the exact time Splatoon 3 is set to come out, we can only guess from past experiences.

How big is the download for Splatoon 3?

If you have pre-ordered Splatoon 3 digitally, you can now set it to pre-load on your Switch. To do so, you will need at least 5.2 GB of storage space available either on internal memory or a micro SD card. Luckily, Nintendo is very good at making sure their games are small enough storage-wise to facilitate the small internal memory that the Switch has.