Splatoon 3 has achieved popularity in China without an official release in the country
Analyst Daniel Ahmad writes about this. According to him, last week Splatoon 3 was broadcast immediately by 46% of streamers from major Chinese platforms DouYu, Huya and Bilibili.
Moreover, 72% of all donations sent to streamers went to those who streamed Splatoon 3.
Note that Splatoon 3 is the first part of the series to be localized into simplified Chinese.