Splatoon 3 cheaters are reportedly getting console and Nintendo Switch Online bans

Players are already trying to cheat in Splatoon 3, and Nintendo's already banning them.

As spotted by Nintendo dataminer OatmealDome, Nintendo is reportedly cracking down on players who are modifying the game, including a patch that let players prematurely enter the testing range.

NEW SPLATOON 3 SINGLE-PLAYER GAMEPLAY! First Look At Splatoon 3 Campaign plus Turf War & Salmon Run!

Affected players are getting console bans and "possibly" total bans from subscription service Nintendo Switch Online, too, without which players cannot access multiplayer features.

"Splatoon 3 has anti-cheat in place," explained OatmealDome, adding that they "won’t be going into much detail about how it works, since anti-cheat relies on security through obscurity" (thanks, Nintendo Life).

"Nintendo is beginning to issue console bans (possibly total ban from [Nintendo Switch Online]?) to players who modified the game."

"One particular patch that was being shared around lets you enter the testing range early," they added. "It appears to be the most popular ban reason. Given how Splatoon 2 was also able to detect these patches, this is completely unsurprising. Not sure why people thought this was OK to try."

Splatoon 3 finally releases on Nintendo Switch on 9th September, but if you'd like to try it out before then, a free demo that features three-way fights is out now.

"After going hands-on with Splatoon 3 at a recent preview event, this new sequel felt pretty similar to how I remember the first game playing," Ian wrote in his Splatoon 3 preview.

"Sure, there's a new single-player campaign to play through, along with a bunch of new maps for Turf War and Salmon Run, but to my out-of-touch eye the focus for this sequel seems to be on updating and improving what the players already love, rather than revolutionising the game and giving Splatoon fans something new to wrap their fish fingers around."