Nintendo Shoots Down Rumour Splatoon 3’s Shiver Is Non-Binary

All the signs were there. It really seemed like one of Splatoon's newest characters, Shiver, was revealed to be non-binary during a recent Nintendo Direct. That has now been confirmed not to be the case, and apparently, Shiver actually identifies as female.

The reveal comes courtesy of confirmation from a higher-up at Nintendo via The Verge. Senior vice president of development and publishing Nate Bihldorff confirmed Shiver will indeed identify as female in Splatoon 3 and is not non-binary. Even though the character was not identified as she or her during the latest trailer, they are the pronouns used when referring to the character in the game.

The lack of she/her or he/him pronouns used during the recent Splatoon 3 Direct was one of many clues fans picked up on that led them to believe the series was about to get its first non-binary character. Splatoon 3's color scheme is largely black, white, purple, and yellow, the four colors that make up the non-binary flag. Pure coincidence it would seem unless Nintendo plans on adding non-binary characters to Splatoon 3 in the future which is entirely possible.

The last piece of evidence that had many Splatoon fans convinced Shiver was non-binary came via the language her Deep Cut team uses. “We're not supposed to be anything.” A statement shrouded in mystery somewhat now Nintendo has confirmed Shiver identifies as female. That confirmation means Nintendo's non-binary character count has not been doubled and remains at just one. Xenoblade Chronicles 3's Juniper.

While Shiver being non-binary would have been a big step forward for the series and Nintendo as a whole when it comes to inclusivity, Splatoon 3 will still take a much smaller step in that regard via Splatoon 3. When creating your own character in the new game, instead of having to choose between a boy or a girl, you'll pick either an Inkling or an Octoling with a number of different customization options at your disposal.

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