Splatoon 3 has a fatal matchmaking problem. 

Spread the word guys and make this viral. Nintendo needs to listen

My fav part about x battle is going 0-3 and losing 30-60 points, but going 3-0 and only gaining 10-30 points

Nintendo just needs to kick everyone who drops below 1800 out of X rank like in Splatoon 2.

The worst part about this is the fact that you even see this message in TURF WAR. Turf feels like it has the bare minimum in terms of matchmaking and you still run into this message sometimes.

9:40 at the same time, many people often criticize how bad Splatoon’s matchmaking is because of how often it creates unbalanced matches. What should Nintendo do? They’re being pulled in two opposite directions

this was calming to listen to. I feel wrong for assuming this, but I feel like there might be a blind eye and deaf ear for complaints about some parts of the game from players in the west, like this, from the developers. but there probably is an example to debunk this Idk

Casual Turf War player here, hopefully I'm not the only one that is annoyed by the fact players spend more time waiting for matches to start than actually playing the match, it ticks me off more when a Turf War match lasts only 30 seconds because someone disconnected within the first minute.

there is a competitive 6v6 queue in tf2 that has maybe 20-30 players on it at a time, and even after hours of queueing, the game will eventually give high rank players (the vast minority of the players) a lobby with level 1 fresh meat. getting in a game is the FIRST thing a matchmaking system should prioritise.

It seems that Nintendo sometimes struggles to make sustainable matchmaking in a few of their games. I play Zelda Tri Force Heroes alot and the servers splits matchmaking by 14 ways for a regular queue (the factors being 8 areas, 2 play speeds, 2+ categories of how many stages you’ve let other people pick and whether or not you want a bonus challenge.) This game usually only has 2-4 people looking for a match at anytime when I’ve looked around and the wait can be 4+ hours just to play. I understand the game isn’t appealing to many people but the way Nintendo designs some of their matchmaking is just awful. I hope Splatoon 3 doesn’t turn like this.

congratulations on the quad at 13:00 very nicely done!

Yeah this is definitely an impending doom problem. If it stays like this matchmaking is going to be awful. Best thing to do really is just spread awareness. If enough players mention it, it might reach the devs.

The matchmaking is insane in Splatoon 3. I played ranked Splatoon 1 and 2 last night out of interest and was getting into lobbies significantly faster than even Challenge mode matches in Splatoon 3 on a new season drop.

me actually getting into a match: *A COMMUNICATION ERROR HAS OCCURRED*

Wanna know what’s bad, me and my friend got this message doing Tri-colour, 3 times in a row… During a SPLATFEST

This happened to me... Splatzones is my best mode (I tend to be around 1800 or 1900 in X... and I was in X rank in splatoon 2 for zones so I've ranked down a bit in skill maybe) but I absolutely biffed my 5 placement matches. I was put in 1350 and getting a match was so rare I practically gave up for the rest of the season.

Splatoon 3 matchmaking has recently within the last few seasons has been either steamrolling matches, or getting steamrolled matches Ive been between A+ and X and have experience this across all these ranks And im generally ok when not everyone is not on the exact skill lvl ( referencing splatoon 1 matchmaking whete u could have A and S players on the same teams) But even in 1 matches weren’t so quick to end and vice versa The whole system needs to be revamped imo bc matchmaking along with the maps are what is hurting this game by far the most

They need to have the same X rank system from splatoon 2. X powers go too low and too high and wins/losses affect the score too much. It's why I avoid the mode entirely.

Not even X rank players play X rank. The amount of top 500 badges I have seen in Anarchy Series is insane

I think that splitting the queues between Series, X, and Open was the biggest mistake. IMO, Series should be abolished and replaced with X's format as the default. It doesn't make sense that players have to unlock a proper rating system, Series is such a bad joke it shouldn't exist. Then I would rebrand Open as Unranked. Two queues instead of three, and matchmaking based on power rather than unlock requirements might properly work.

The most depressing thing about it for me is that I know the 2 modes I tanked down to super low rating I can't even really do anything but wait for the next season to try again. D:

I get this error 95% of the time when my power gets above 2400. I got top 500 in three modes in sizzle season 2023 and didn’t even play X battle that much. Whenever I saw clam blitz X battle (I was top 500), I knew I wouldn’t get to play the game.

People under 1900 should NEVER match people above 1900. However. The problem is, we have people who are in X that don’t belong in X. This results in people not matching their skill level because their skill level is in a different rank. A player can be A+ Power 1300, while another is X Power 1345, and another player is S Power 1413 These players should all be matched because they’re the same skill. But, because their ranks are different, A+, S, and X, the game will not match them. There’s no world where two players with the same skill rating should be a different rank.

whenever this happens to me, a simple restart fixes it for me

This happened to me as well but in Rainmaker and weirdly enough, my x power for that mode was the highest out of all the modes for sizzle season.

The amount of people who have x rank unlocked has to be under 1% of the community, I have one friend with it unlocked (they consistently reach top 50 in clam blitz)

I had a game of anarchy open with some friends and we gained plus .1 points three games in a row, and they weren’t even complete wipeout wins. Then we lost 50 when we lost by 2 points

This must be frustrating. Hopefully nintendo will one day look into it. As for how nintendo can try to fix this problem, aside from widening the Matchmaker pool, finding an optimal solution probably sounds tricky

this is super informative! your voice is also very nice and soothing to listen to!

I think the whole queue system and x rank need to be redone. X as an elite thing made sense in splatoon 2 as it was a rank above all the S+. Now its not so much, I even think x power is a better measure for rank over whatever the old letter system has. My idea is: - Turf War - Same as is. - Anarchy - Remove open and combine into series or vise versa. I think modifying series to allow with friends matching is better as its meant to be practice for X, but might be better to be more like open. Anarchy also unlocks faster, I think at the same time as being able to buy weapons. - X Battle - As is for regions is fine, but it's unlocked by "proving" yourself in Anarchy. Could be S+ in Anarchy still or based on wins. The goal is to make sure the player is comfortable with ranked modes. However once proven the mode is unlocked from season to season. If you want to keep fresh returning players from stuffing up rankings, if they dont play enough ranked or at all for multiple seasons, they could be required to play anarchy before X as a refresher. What this does is separate the game into 3 queues: Casual/Quick Play, Unranked/with friends and Ranked Solo. Now this may sound like R6 Siege queues atm but idc if it works it works. It doesn't need to be a novel system, the games core loop is that. The matching queues and ranking however should work.

X rank is no longer battle against the best of the best In both splatoon 1 & 2 in order to get into the highest ranks you have to consistently win matches and prove your right to fight pros That incentive isn’t their in 3 Just S-> S+ and boom you can fight the supposedly best of best players And this easy of getting into high ranks is why matchmaking can feel steamrolling when it shouldn’t be

On the S+9 skip. It was only for the elite, and even then it was a gamble Really pissed cause I was playing for X 9-1 S+6 -> S+7

I bought Splatoon 3 a few months ago and just started playing it the last few weeks and oh my gosh... the moment I hit S+0 it's been hell. I've been on a losing streak and rarely any wins and it's so frustrating. I want to play my favorite modes, but I kept getting matched with either bad players or against pro-skill level players that streamroll and it's becoming so unfun. I'm already at -2999 in my points and it sucks. T_T Doing Open gives you 8 points for winning, but 5 points for losing. Seriously, the amount of loses I had with both Series and Open it makes me despises 3. I went back to 2 a few days ago and I have 50/50 matches with wins and losses and felt more manageable and fun. Though I did do Turf Wars. I really hope Nintendo fixes the issues with this game, because I don't think I want to come back even though I want to unlock all weapons and get the perfect abilities for my gear. It hurts so much.

Another reason Why I gave up going for X ranks. The matchmaking is absolutely bad and nintendo has not make proper adjustments to splatoon 3 netcode.

very off topic but your voice is so soothing. i played this video while drawing my splatoon oc and its satisfying to just listen to you complain about x battles lol knowing my skill level if i actually unlocked x battles id probably run to the same issue😭

I've been absolutely having this issue in sr more and more lately. Like some rotations I've only been able to get in three games in an hour. Especially harder maps. It's ridiculous.

Same thing happened to me although I was just barely able to climb out by trying over and over at times of the day that were super popular on weekends and playing weapons that were likely to be searched by others. But ya I think once people stop being able to find games most people stop searching so it starts a cycle where very few people are trying to search x battles around that power at the same time

In my experience you can't find ranked matches in S2, at least in my low X rank experience

The x rank matchmaking requires the weapon on each team to be more or less the same. So if you are playing a charger, there HAS to be a charger or maybe a tri stringer on the other. It could be that the people playing have not been using chargers in clam blitz because it might not be the best weapon for the mode, but they could have been more effective in splat zones

I think adding a setting to match with people way outside your rank for X battles would be nice

communication errors are so common it's basically tradition to get one

Random, ik, but your voice is so calming! Great Video

I feel like the whole Splatoon community has just agreed that Clam Blitz sucks ass-

I think another part of this is that I will never queue up for Clam Blitz as a solo. I exclusively play with friends in Anarchy (Open). I just can't stand the game mode without better communication. To add to the lack of player base though, I'm also EST and play in the evening and at 1700 X power in splat zones I still struggle to find a match sometimes.

10:10 Playing at odd hours. Try West Coast late. Forget trying to find a Clam match. Forget trying to play most X rank matches because a lot of people aren't online in your rank threshold. In addition to the weapon balancing the game tries to do. So many factors clash and it freaking sucks. You have to play at a prime time i order to actually get thrown into matches. At least in Splatoon 2 every X player was thrown into a pool for the most part. I used to play with Japanese players because I would play late and for them it would be afternoon. And that was a blast. I got steamrolled at points sure, but I was at least playing the game I paid for and not stuck in a queue It sucks because if I keep getting the "not enough players" message I just stop playing altogether for a bit. I WANT to play, but the game is literally not letting me. Splat2 i would play for hours because it let me

10,000,000 copies, sure. But how many of those are: In X Battle (above S+) In your division Queueing for X Battle Clam Blitz at the same time. Which, given it's the less popular division and the least popular mode... It isn't that surprising? There's not much they can do to solve the problem that the pool is just too small. They can't force people from other modes into it for obvious reasons, so you can't pull a TF2 and fill the gaps with fresh meat. The only solution I could see is to widen the pool. So that could be lowering the minimum rank to Play X Battle, since often less than 10% of the player base are S+ or above at any one time. It could mean removing region locks, and allowing cross-division play, or, removing divisions entirely. Or it could go with a more "clever" but less fun solution, such as making it so Series and X always have the same rotation, and a lacking X battle will pull players in from the most similar Series lobby it can find. (As for myself, I'm actually in a similar enough position, X Power wise, on Zones, I would be of the opinion that we should lower the rank requirement. Allll the way to A. Oh, and addendum time: I agree they should adjust how the skill based matchmaking system works, I just think it's not going to be enough. Even moderate or plurality score divisions in X have very few players. Also my favourite mode is Anarchy Series, so my condolences on preferring X. I will however put a word in that the "Stick with Team" button is valuable to us Series mainers. Five matches of solid comradery with strangers, those are some of the best Splatoon moments there are.)

Average score for the tater division is like 1650

That's absurd and terrifying! I haven't played Splatoon 3 since January 2023. Good thing I'm becoming a indie game developer, and if Nintendo doesn't know how to address those issues in Splatoon 3, or if Nintendo doesn't know how to make a good Splatoon game, or if Nintendo doesn't know how to delay/develope Splatoon 3 for the next-gen Nintendo console, or if Nintendo doesn't know how to make a Splatoon spin-off game (like a Splatoon fighting game or a Splatoon rpg/jrpg game for a example), or if Sega/Sonic Team almost made a good Sonic game, but then it has problems on release, or if Sega/Sonic Team doesn't know how to make a good Sonic game or doesn't know how to make a new and original IP game outside of Sonic The Hedgehog, I might make a bad-ass/edgy, aquatic 3d platformer that's a mix between Sonic The Hedgehog and Splatoon.

i had this problem too! I never got a match as a sniper in x rank clam blitz and it worked for any other weapon and through any other mode.

things like this and the up until now map design is why I suspect splatoon 3 will never be remembered as fondly as 2, even if 2 had a lot of weird/ bad decisions.

the same thing is happening to me, which is a shame because mine usually takes up to 3 minutes before the message.

Nintendo needs to listen to this guy

I would add back the cut off from splatoon 2 and make it so you need to do another rank up battle in series. Then I'd add in some flexibility for matching with varying x powers. Finally I'd merge the divisions and make it so it'll try and match you with your region but it'll pull from other regions if there aren't enough players

Same thing happened to me :( Lost my first 4 calculation battles of Splat Zones and was never matched with anyone again

I remember i bought splatoon 3 on launch and for the first hour or two i couldnt get into a single match of basic turf

I had this problem last season , im thinking of joining the Tentatek division for better matchmaking. I also saw this in patch notes” Made it so that when one player begins matchmaking and members have gathered but there is a communication error, matchmaking is automatically reattempted once instead of being suspended as a result of the error.” So mayb now it re queues automatically after error ? Dunno if thats much help anyway

have you tried picking a different weapon, like the luna blaster or splattershot for example. maybe it can find games where those players are needed.

What I’m mad about is that they market Pikmin so good, yet market this new season just…badly.

I just hope they rework matchmaking so that you can match with people below/above your skill threshold

I'm a west coast salmon run evp 200+ freelancer and I get off of work around 8 pm ish, but don't always play as much as I should be

I really hate that they split up Anarchy between Open and Series, especially now that it prevents us getting independent ranks for each mode

I have a friend named SillyFerret who had the same problem. I've never been in X Rank so I wouldn't know

I get this issue too btw but my score is 2200 (average)

TLDR: get good or no x battle for the rest of the season

I'm new to the game and I got the expansion pass too but whenever I join a battle it just says not enough players so now I'm stuck on level 1 and not only that the only things I can do are play side order and the story's campaign BUT SPLATOON 2 WORKS And evrytime i reset my data i doesn't even let me transfer my splatoon 2 data. 😞

I feel like this is related to zorconics latest video about lower level players being matched with higher level players. And now this video saying it straight up doesn't match you at all if you're too low..

9:15 - "here is where any sensible online multiplayer game would..." Yep, not that's not splatoon lol

I am having trouble finding matches even at 2160

Sipilus when SBMK

No. Im sorry. Splatoon 2 ranked was hell. I hated the meter system. I hated getting wins and almost ranking up, but the meter just didnt go any farther and then the game would pair you with the most psychotic tryhards lose and meter just breaks

If you just play Splat2, the matchmaking is way better in that game because of the fact that everyone knows Splat3 is just…bad.

This is happening to me and im not even in x rank im just in A+ wtf how do i fix this?

unify Anarchy Series and X-Rank

I can answer the odd hours question for you I mostly play at around 1-5am and clam blitz just would not give me matches

I'm so sorry, but I have to make the obvious joke: Nobody is playing clam blitz because it sucks.

I’m pretty sure it’s top 4% for x

I’m Midwest player for salmon run who plays a lot! unless it’s marooners bay. See you next rotation 😂 my avg x power is like 2300 I’ve been close to top 500 but I need to work on better decision making. I didn’t know the x power could be that that low. Reminds me if you were 1900 you were booted back to S+… but at least you could work you way back to X (which is also a problem I think?)

i just want to comment so this video bumps up - opal

Guys guys it’s ok it’s because X Rank is a mode for “the best of the best” so that’s why there’s not a lot of players!!! Trust me!!!!

never seen this before???

8:43 we would have to read what Glicko2 has to say. Anyone expert on that?

the match making is bad anyway it takes me 120 secs to load into a 3min match 💀💀💀 it stoppted me from playing

I want to unlock x battle, but im scared to do so because of this like bruh

This happened to me too

signal boost

Did you factor in that Clam Blitz sucks?

thats my streamer!

Lmao, the fact that there's almost no people playing x real clam blitz is hilarious

why post this in september if it was recorded in july and the most recent update that dropped a few days ago (before the video came out) fixed the issue entirely? It no longer has a fatal matchmaking problem. the video is outdated two days before its release lmao???

Huh, dude cant get matches....as a sniper...in clam blitz...in x rank...in whatever division. That spunds like a "nobody likes clam blitz or chargers" and "not many people can get to x rank" cuz ya know...its the elite mode

It's not like the game is dead either. Big runs so far have attracted nearly 3m players for the first 2 (new thing and new boss) and still 1.8m for the 3rd. On any normal day there should be well over 10k concurrent players on average. Ofc most of those are casuals or not in X battle, I'd say around 1-3% of them would be. Since the game is so much more popular in Asia, it could be under 20% of them that are in the Europe/America division. So yes there is a lot that the matchmaking will leave out. At peak time there might still only be 100 players in X battles outside Asia. Power differences divide it further and you soon get a situation where there's under 8 players.

So weird

The obvious answer is that no one is playing x rank clam blitz except for you

Wait, so the fatal matchmaking problem is that not enough people are in X-rank? That's a YOU problem.

I’m sorry but 1405? I didn’t even think that was possible