Predicting the Release Date of AC Switch

[xSuperMario64x]

So, as we all know, AC Switch was officially announced yesterday for a 2019 release. But the main question that's been on my mind, and I'm sure that many of you have thought about this as well, is around what date will the game be released? I'd like to give my two cents on this issue.

After doing some research on past AC titles, I've tried to gather info on the amount of time passing between when the game was initially announced and when it was released. Here's what I've gathered so far:

• AC:GCN: The game Animal Forest was originally being developed for the N64DD, which released in Japan in Dec 1999. It's unclear when the game was actually announced, but that is about a year and a half between when the game was originally said to be in development and when it was released in April 2001. The US and other regions got the game about a year and a half later, in Sept-Nov 2002.
  
• Wild World: WW was semi-revealed at E3 2004, and was released about a year and a half later, in November 2005. It was released to the US in December 2005, but not to Europe until March 2006.
  
• City Folk: CF was hinted at in 2005, right around the time that WW was released. It was also mentioned sometime in 2006, though little work had been done with it. The game was also mentioned in early 2007, though it wasn't officially revealed as "AC City Folk" until E3 2008. It was released in Nov-Dec 2008 in many countries.
  
• New Leaf: NL was unveiled at E3 2010, but there was a bare minimum of info given. It was shown again at E3 2011, still with little info given, though much more than at E3 2010. in April 2012, the title "AC New Leaf" was announced, and later that year, in November, it was released in Japan. The US and Europe didn't get this game until June 2013.

The trend seems to be that the wait time between announcement and actual game release has grown quite a bit from the first game to the newest.

So what does all of this mean? Essentially, I get the sense that the game should be released about a year, year and a half after it's initial announcement. I believe the case for New Leaf was a bit special, because it was announced very early in its development and, therefore, took longer to release after its initial announcement. Though, this could also mean a long waiting time for the new game, too.
Regardless, I personally don't see this game being released until late in 2019, or even early to mid-2020.

What makes this really difficult, is that fans have been waiting eagerly for at least a year for the game's announcement, and it would be a shame to make them wait so much longer just for the game's release. Perhaps info will be shown off periodically to tie us over until the release date is, at least, announced. But until then, we can only hope that this game comes as soon as possible.



What are your opinions? When do you predict the next AC game will be released?

 

[cornimer]

By the sound of it every AC game (even Pocket Camp last year) was released in November-December (at least in Japan), so I'm predicting a November-December 2019 release for AC Switch. At least, I think that's what they're aiming for. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets delayed.