A New Animal Crossing Needs to Come Now, Not Later
It is inevitable that Nintendo will release an Animal Crossing game on the Nintendo Switch 2, and based on the popularity of the original – which MAY have been inflated by COVID – I expect a new game to be even bigger, and even better. Even if the number of people who played on Nintendo Switch was inflated by the pandemic, Nintendo needs to cash in on that desire for a similar experience now, not later.
Releasing Animal Crossing early in the life cycle of the Nintendo Switch 2 allows Nintendo to set up years of support, whether small and free or large and paid. I look at something like Disney Dreamlight Valley, a game with a really strong IP that has been going great for years now. Between small free updates and larger paid experiences, the game seems to be as strong as it ever has been, providing Disney fans the chance to interact with popular characters and solve a variety of problems.
This is the roadmap I’d love to see Nintendo replicate. While Disney does hold a ton of popular IPs they can draw from for their game, Nintendo can easily work in their own IPs into the next Animal Crossing. But if they want a game that will be a commercial success with a massive attack rate, it does need to come soon.
Add me to the camp of people who would willingly pay for substantial new content for Animal Crossing, even years after release. What the content would look like would depend on how a new Animal Crossing is set up, but the popularity of Animal Crossing has never been higher than it was in 2022. And while that popularity has likely taken a bit of a hit in the last couple years, I’d argue the franchise is still more popular, and more mainstream within the Nintendo (and casual) community than it has ever been. Capitalizing now would not only add another game to the Nintendo Switch 2 meager lineup, but also make Nintendo so much money, money they could use for bigger and more impressive projects.
Money. It’s a tough thing to quantify the value of a game. Is Mario Kart World worth $80.00 USD? Is the Nintendo Switch 2 worth what Nintendo is charging? Based on my own experience with the game, coupled with the opinions of friends, Discord members, and family, very few people would even think twice if a $80.00 USD Animal Crossing was ready to pick up in late 2025 or early 2026. And if Nintendo offered paid upgrades yearly, shoot even quarterly, I think a large number of owners would continue to spend if the new content warranted the price Nintendo could ask.
Again, we are talking about a win-win. There has been a lot of chatter lately about a rumoured Nintendo Direct happening in July, and maybe an Animal Crossing would be part of that Direct. What we do know is that outside of a few (somewhat substantial) game upgrades and a Pokemon release during the holidays, there isn’t a lot of light at the end of the Nintendo Switch 2 software tunnel. Time to give us what we want, Nintendo.
And we will gladly pay you for it. I for one can guarantee that a new Animal Crossing would put a second Nintendo Switch 2 in the Roffel household.
Article By Adam Roffel
