AC:NH has become Japan's best-selling game of all time

[Millysaurusrexjr]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1590003819425173510

Apparently, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become Japan's best-selling game of all time! While I love ACNH, I'm a little surprised at this news.

Anyone else hope Nintendo maybe re-thinks their decision on not releasing any more updates???

 

[Iris_T]

Dunno about updates, but surely with this sales nintendo will keep making new AC games to look forward to!

 

[Xara]

and yet nintendo ditched it after less than 2 years and now never mentions it.

i’m a little surprised by this news as well, but it is a good game. plus it came out at the beginning of the pandemic, and that definitely helped boost sales. i agree with what @Iris_T said though; i doubt we’ll get anymore updates for new horizons (though a girl can hope lol), but animal crossing is one of nintendo’s best and most popular franchises — we’ll definitely get more content from them, though probably in the form of a new game, in the future.

 

[nightglow]

Cool!
I don't think that it will encourage them to do more updates, but I think it may encourage them to push out the next game. For a game that sold this well, they may be more inclined to put more varied things in the game to do. Maybe a couple of co op things... Like mini games? I'm sure they will do more trading which many don't care for.
Maybe the allowed budget will be a little bigger next time which allows more options or possibilities.
I know covid interfered and probably even caused more sales, but I think because people played it then, they are more likely to buy AC games now than if they never bought ACNH to begin with.

 

[JKDOS]

I don't think Nintendo is gonna budge on ACNH in the slightest, but I'd definitely love to see something happen. I get on Pocket Camp every now and then and I always get instantly jealous that they seem to have so much going on all the time. The best I can hope for is that the success of Animal Crossing New Horizons will be enough that Nintendo aims to go above and beyond on the next one.

We're many-many years out from seeing the next game yet, but hopefully by then there will be no pandemics or epidemics, and everyone will be back to working in full force. The slow drip updates for this game were dreadsome, and most of that time spent waiting was for nothing but a Holiday, which didn't matter if you weren't trying to time travel to the event at launch. Off the top of my head, the only things that really felt like updates were the swimming/art update, which really should have been included from the start, and v2.0, which included a bit of QoL features and game enhancements.

 

[Corrie]

I don't think Nintendo is gonna budge on ACNH in the slightest, but I'd definitely love to see something happen. I get on Pocket Camp every now and then and I always get instantly jealous that they seem to have so much going on all the time. The best I can hope for is that the success of Animal Crossing New Horizons will be enough that Nintendo aims to go above and beyond on the next one.

We're many-many years out from seeing the next game yet, but hopefully by then there will be no pandemics or epidemics, and everyone will be back to working in full force. The slow drip updates for this game were dreadsome, and most of that time spent waiting was for nothing but a Holiday, which didn't matter if you weren't trying to time travel to the event at launch. Off the top of my head, the only things that really felt like updates were the swimming/art update, which really should have been included from the start, and v2.0, which included a bit of QoL features and game enhancements.

The way this game was handled was terrible and hopefully for the next game, they actually release it finished. It was embarrassing and frustrating. I still would've taken waiting for another year over the nonsense we were put through.

 

[azurill]

I’m not surprised it did that well. It came out in a time people were spending more time at home. I think people also had really high hopes for this game . It’s still a good game but I still wish some things were done better and the updates were handled better .

As for updates as much as I would love one more update if just for some QOL things I am sure we won’t get one. I’m not sure if I will be getting the next one since I’m not sure I will be buying another gaming system. I do hope the next is better.

 

[Corrie]

I’m not surprised it did that well. It came out in a time people were spending more time at home. I think people also had really high hopes for this game . It’s still a good game but I still wish some things were done better and the updates were handled better .

As for updates as much as I would love one more update if just for some QOL things I am sure we won’t get one. I’m not sure if I will be getting the next one since I’m not sure I will be buying another gaming system. I do hope the next is better.

Unfortunately, when the next AC game comes out, I'll be that guy waiting for reviews. NH was just a mess and while it ended up being okay at the end of the day, it's still disappointing. I want that community feel back so hopefully the next game has that. Games are too expensive these days to just blindly preorder. I've been burned too many times.

 

[azurill]

Unfortunately, when the next AC game comes out, I'll be that guy waiting for reviews. NH was just a mess and while it ended up being okay at the end of the day, it's still disappointing. I want that community feel back so hopefully the next game has that. Games are too expensive these days to just blindly preorder. I've been burned too many times.

Agreed if I do think about getting the next one I will be waiting for reviews. I didn’t look anything up with NH I just preordered it . I would have still bought the game but I would have had different expectations. I also probably would have waited a bit before buying. Like I said it’s a good game just not how I expected it to go with updates.

 

[StarlitGlitch]

I hadn't seen this news, that's very exciting!

As a long-time AC fan it's been exciting with ACNH to see how much of an impact it's had. Namely, all of the cool merch there is now! Especially outside of Japan. I was so desperate as a kid to get my hands on any AC merch.

That being said, I hope that Nintendo still listens to long-term fans of the series and doesn't just try to make the next AC game ACNH 2.0

 

[Violet Witch]

This is such a bittersweet piece of news.

On one hand congratulations and on the other dismay knowing ACNH will never get anymore updates to keep longtime fans invested in the game. Instead we'll all have to wait for the next instalment of the franchise that won't be announced or released for a long time to come.

 

[-Raven-]

Honestly, after 2.0 NH became my favorite, but wether I buy the next one or not really depends on the console/library I don’t see myself buying more consoles… it makes me sound so casual but I’ve basically quit gaming other than NH and popping a couple other series in for nostalgia haha. AC hard to leave behind tho… unless they pull the same update crap, because NH was not good enough to keep me striving until 2.0. Anyway, this is kinda surprising but… makes sense I guess. I totally could have seen it becoming the best-selling Switch game (and it absolutely deserves that over MK8D oh my god I hate that game) but of all-time is the shocking part.

 

[Corrie]

Agreed if I do think about getting the next one I will be waiting for reviews. I didn’t look anything up with NH I just preordered it . I would have still bought the game but I would have had different expectations. I also probably would have waited a bit before buying. Like I said it’s a good game just not how I expected it to go with updates.

Luckily mine was a gift but I was so incredibly hyped for it. Like suuuuuper excited and then... yeah... we got a beta version in 2020. Super sad. It sucks to be weary but games are expensive these days, you can't just buy and hope for the best like you could back in the day. I remember going to Walmart with my family and picking out a game through the glass cabinet. I chose them based on the box art and the series, not looking up reviews first and I never got burned. I wish we could continue to do that.

 

[azurill]

Luckily mine was a gift but I was so incredibly hyped for it. Like suuuuuper excited and then... yeah... we got a beta version in 2020. Super sad. It sucks to be weary but games are expensive these days, you can't just buy and hope for the best like you could back in the day. I remember going to Walmart with my family and picking out a game through the glass cabinet. I chose them based on the box art and the series, not looking up reviews first and I never got burned. I wish we could continue to do that.

Yea I was so excited for this game. That excitement ended quickly when I realized how much was missing. Loved building Nook’s cranky, Ables and the museum. Was disappointed when I realized we wouldn’t be building any more shops. Yea I used to do the same thing picking games based on their box art. It was definitely more fun back then.

 

[Mars Adept]

With how well NH did, I wonder if Nintendo is going to double down on the ‘live service’ structure NH had in the next game, because money talks louder than criticism. I personally wouldn’t buy the new game if that were the case.

 

[Halloqueen]

On the one hand, it's understandable why it sold so well. Right place at the right time with the pandemic keeping people home and needing something to occupy their time, people sharing their beautifully terraformed islands on social media, the Switch's popularity and all that.

On the other, the room sizes of the fully expanded player houses are awful (especially when the villagers in Happy Home Paradise can have 10x10 rooms) and there's nothing to actually do with friends online akin to Club Tortimer's mini-games and beetle and shark catching.

New Horizons does have things to like about it, I still play and enjoy it because the Happy Home Paradise lets me design cool homes. That, again, are better than ours. Seriously, what the hell Nintendo? Yes, I will keep saying this. That said, I can't say I'm too happy that this stripped down game sold so well. As someone who prefers New Leaf for a number of things (aside from lack of character customization with skin tone, inability to move rocks, the nightmare that is trying to get villagers to put their home plots where you want them to go, etc.) I'm wary of what this will mean for the next installment and the things that have kept me invested in the series thus far.

As for them doing anymore updates for New Horizons? Nah. It would be cool, but I doubt it since they wouldn't want to walk back on the whole "final update" announcement they made.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

I just hope this news pushes Nintendo to do better for the next Animal Crossing game, and not commit to a live service model as they did with NH. There's a difference between adding content that genuinely contributes more to the game (such as the HHP DLC) and slowly adding content that should've been at launch (holidays, events, etc.). I don't see how the latter provides any benefit to the game when we all paid the full price for it. And it doesn't help with the fact that some of the features were datamined before those said features were released.

 

[Sheydra]

I loved nh and the others ac I played, but I don’t think I will go with another. The short support this game has had is the reason.

 

[-Blue-]

This is what always worried me. They'll see the numbers and just repeat it all over again. It got #1 for top selling Animal Crossing game, but now it's Nintendo's top selling game of all time.

On one hand, I am glad to see it getting it recognized and being brought out to wider audience. Nintendo just struck gold with the time it was released during and unprecedented event. They dropped this any other time and it would've never sold so well. But at the same time, as a fan coming from the previous games I am a bit disappointed to see that this may potentially be where they move on from.

It's kind of funny that their top selling game of all time was pushed to the side so fast so that the dev team could focus on Splatoon 3.

 

[PoppyPumpkin]

I don't think we'll see a new Animal Crossing game for the switch.
We had the DS one and the gamecube one (i forget which came first, I played the gamecube first so i assume that??) then a new one for the wii then a new one for the 3ds and then a new one for the switch, so if they stick with their patterns, we won't see a -new- animal crossing game until a new console is introduced. ACNL lasted what, 8 years before they poked at new horizon? I just kind of assumed that they'll never really stop making the game for new consoles.

Now someone will have to correct me if I'm wrong and please forgive me if it was mentioned already - but also, I feel like didn't they say "no more updates" in NL then drop a a content update? They saw it do REALLY well if memory serves correctly so who knows? Maybe they'll do the same here. It isn't like Nintendo doesn't have a history of going back on it's word haha.

But yeah, @TheDuke55 - I agree. It's actually almost insulting that ACNH was shoved to the side for Splatoon. As cool as splatoon is, it does feel a bit like a slap at the AC community to drop AC in order to work on it when AC has been a very steady franchise for them. Splatoon is fun and all but I def don't see it standing the test of time like AC did and is.