The most recent Nintendo Direct was delayed due to an unfortunate earthquake in Japan, but a pair of dataminers think it will return as soon as next week. The reasoning behind their theory? A Splatoon 2 item. It turns out squid kids were supposed to get new gear this week, but the release of this fresh new piece was pushed back at the last second. Just like the Direct...

Two Splatoon 2 fans who report on datamines, OatmealDome and Simonx22, have tracked the game's updates for a while. So even before the Direct was announced, they knew that a September update was on the way. Among the list of additions was a new piece of gear for the game's Salmon Run mode, a pair of orange flippers. OatmealDome shared a tweet about them on September 2nd.

OatmealDome also declared that the flippers would accompany a rotation of maps in Splatoon 2's Ranked mode. As the tweet shows, this was all meant to be added to the game on the 7th. However, after the Direct was delayed, it seems that the flippers and map rotation have been delayed with it.

The game's data now shows that the Orange Flippers are to be made available on the 14th. The map rotation has also been set back a week. In their tweets sharing the change, OatmealDome concludes that the Splatoon 2 update was meant to be a part of the Nintendo Direct. With the Direct suddenly delayed, the Splatoon 2 team had no choice but to stall the update.

That reasoning also works the other way. If the Splatoon 2 update is tied to the Direct, that means its new September 14th release date is significant. It could be the Direct's new date.

While OatmealDome is by no means an official source, even tweeting "I might be wrong with the Thursday prediction. Nintendo can update the data at any time," there is some precedent for their claims. The Direct was highly likely going to address the Nintendo Switch Online service. The service is set to launch in the latter half of this month, so the company can't wait too much longer to talk about it in detail.

So be keep your eyes glued to your screens next week. Even if it isn't on the 14th, you'll probably see the new Nintendo Direct pop up sooner rather than later.

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