Apparently they have been working on this game the moment new leaf was finished..

[Ryzon]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/03/animal_crossing_devs_reveal_how_long_new_horizons_has_been_in_development

Can you tell? I haven’t got the game yet but you’d think with 8 years of development it’d be pretty advanced with enough content that shows it.

 

[Xara]

lmao damn. i kinda agree but at the same time i feel like the lack of content is intentional - i really think they’re hiding a bunch of stuff behind updates

 

[LilBee]

Especially with those who time travel, wouldn't want them to be giving away too many spoilers! Although the characters running the events look like those from new leaf so are they going to be so much different?

 

[epona]

lmao damn. i kinda agree but at the same time i feel like the lack of content is intentional - i really think they’re hiding a bunch of stuff behind updates

i agree, i loved new leaf but it got boring very quickly once i'd kind of done everything. it's frustrating missing content now and it feels like a let-down for lifelong fans of the games but i think it'll be sick to get patches to shake things up and revitalise the gameplay a bit in the future

 

[meo]

I mean I can believe it...It's still early in the game as far as content goes.
The textures (ocean, museum, everything really), mechanics (players hopping over edges/squeezing between spaces), incorporating life-like behavior to npcs, converting countless items to updated looks/textures (clothing, furniture, etc), adding logistics of terraforming, list goes on...
I mean..that takes an immense amount of time especially when animal crossing isn't their only game to produce.

Don't get me wrong, there are things that are tedious and things I'm hesitant about. However, I can fully believe it's been eight years of work on/off with other projects.

 

[blossoming]

yikes LMAOOOOO youd think theyd still have the most iconic parts of the game

 

[jamie!]

yikes LMAOOOOO youd think theyd still have the most iconic parts of the game

What like exactly?

 

[KlopiTackle]

Well, they might have spent a number of those years on pre-planning and only started actual game development (aka coding and stuff) a year before the switch came out. Unless of course, maybe they started development on the Wii U at first.

 

[Romaki]

They made great advances to the game mechanics and the graphics are insane. The terraforming aspect is a fantastic addition, the crafting is something new and there's a lot to dislike about it, but the main issue is that it feels like a completely new game and no one would have loved another New Leaf grindfest.

 

[trashpedia]

Kinda believable, considering Aya Kyogoku was working on other stuff such as Pocket Camp, Happy Home Designer, Amiibo Festival, Smash Bros. Also the producer, Hisashi Nogami, was working on both Spatoon 1 and 2.

 

[Cardbored]

Just cuz they started making it right after doesn't mean they were giving it 100% the entire time. I'm still early into the game so it's easy to say that it's lacking, I'm sure it'll open up more later

 

[Kattastic]

Wow lmao you’d think a game in development for 8+ years wouldn’t have so many game breaking glitches.

 

[Bluee]

It is believable for me. The graphics are amazing and I love how smooth everything is. I still expect new content to come through updates and all.

 

[sleepydreepy]

Yeah I'm not surprised considering the graphics are amazing, and this must have taken super long to do. I also am sure they are hiding a lot of features behind updates like other have speculated.