Splatoon 3: Unofficial ranking and matchmaking service Splarate goes live in Japan

An unofficial ranking and matchmaking service for Splatoon 3 called Splarate is now available in Japan.

Splatoon 3 contains a variety of stats meant to indicate a player’s skill, such as the ranks in Anarchy Battle. However, once you reach the S+ ranks, matchmaking can start to become a mixed bag as far as putting together players of similar skill is concerned, at least at the current state of the game where X Battle hasn’t been introduced yet. Splarate aims to fill the void of players looking to match with opponents closer to their skill level through Private Battles.

First, players need to form a fixed team of 4 and register on Splarate. The service will then match them with another team to play against in a Private Battle. After the match, enter the results in Splarate and each team’s ranking will be adjusted. This fluctuating ranking is then used as the base to find the team more matches against opponents of similar skill. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that a season lasts for roughly 2 weeks and teams remain fixed throughout this time. This means you’ll be stuck with the same teammates until the next season.

Other examples in Japan of outside matchmaking services that utilize private matches include Smashmate, a community for the Super Smash Bros. series and Lounge for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Smashmate in particular is a large community where a number of professional players gather. Splarate may have been influenced by such services.

Splarate was originally meant as a service for Splatoon 2. However, despite conducting a beta test, operations were suspended, and the release was canceled. Now Splarate has made its return as a service for Splatoon 3.

Season 1 promptly began on November 16 (JST). While it’s still in a sort of testing state, whether it’s further expanded upon or not will likely depend on the response from players. Please keep in mind that this is an unofficial service with no affiliation to Nintendo, so use at your own risk.

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-11-17 16:49 JST)