what's going on with mail?

[jim]

so far the only indication of mail or letters i've actually seen have been the small message in a bottle graphics on official new horizons merch. but looking back through trailers i've noticed that a space for letter writing is noticeably absent when inventories are open.

what's up with that? surely we won't see mail disappear entirely.

perhaps this means letter writing will have to be unlocked a little later in the game as opposed to immediately? maybe they've done away with the mail pocket and are letting us craft letters from the material we find on the island. maybe we have to build the post office before mail can be sent. there doesn't even seem to be a mail/texting app on the nookphone and none of our old post office NPCs have reappeared yet.

what do you think mail has in store for us?

 

[Stevey Queen]

Well there’s mailboxes on the tents and houses in the initial trailer so I’m sure it’s there.

It would make sense to build the post office first before unlocking the feature but I don’t want to build it in my town.

And writing letters on the switch is going to be a pain

 

[John Wick]

As much as it would please me to have mail gone, I doubt it will ever happen.

(Really want an option to turn mail off and on.)

 

[JKDOS]

As much as it would please me to have mail gone, I doubt it will ever happen.

But mail is an extension of our inventories. Unless they give us 10 extra inventory slots, I will revolt if mail goes away.

 

[Winona]

I like getting mail and also writing letters, especially if we can do it via Wi-Fi. Imagine being even able to draw something for your friends or put a gift inside. And I am also excited for messages in bottles!

However, I think that SMS will also be a thing. Maybe we could even get the numbers of our villagers or the villagers of our friends? towns and talk to them anytime to improve friendship levels, set up dates and so on. That way we could even stay in touch with villagers who move out of town.

 

[satine]

I like getting mail and also writing letters, especially if we can do it via Wi-Fi. Imagine being even able to draw something for your friends or put a gift inside. And I am also excited for messages in bottles!

However, I think that SMS will also be a thing. Maybe we could even get the numbers of our villagers or the villagers of our friends‘ towns and talk to them anytime to improve friendship levels, set up dates and so on. That way we could even stay in touch with villagers who move out of town.

This was my prediction as well! At least regarding the SMS feature for talking to other players. It'll be like a more convenient/accessible communication method between "best friends". You might be able to message other people on your friends list with their Online subscription?

Also I really do hope they don't get rid of mail. Hearing that little ding ding ding sound is suuuuch a nostalgic noise for me and I really love it! I don't want it to be replaced entirely by the phone. Maybe we just haven't seen how mail is incorporated yet. There's at least mailboxes, we know that from the gameplay, so I am sure it still exists.

 

[jefflomacy]

Who else is hoping that you can mail to another person's town without visiting their post office, AND that the notification light will be used to show us when we have new mail in Animal Crossing?

 

[Winona]

Who else is hoping that you can mail to another person's town without visiting their post office, AND that the notification light will be used to show us when we have new mail in Animal Crossing?

That would be so, so cool! We could surprise our friends with cute writing paper. And write something meaningful in contrast to all that short text messaging nowadays. And we could keep the letters at the post office and come back to read them again and again. I'd really love that!

 

[dizzy bone]

I began to appreciate the mail more and more in my recent ACNL game play. It’s really cute and I enjoy reading mail from my villagers even if some gets a bit repetitive. Like others have said, I really wish that this extends to players we can send mail to over WiFi. I would definitely make more use out of it I could send cute little letters to my friends. If not sending mail through WiFi, I hope it’s something else like text messages on our Nookphone. The recent comics the Japanese twitter have been posting had a panel where there was a text message screen with sticker emojis and it looks so cute! I wish something like this was actually implemented. I’d use the heck out of it. Of course, we should have an option where we can turn this feature on and off for those who do not like receiving mail/texts.

 

[Dewy]

Maybe it will be email now? And only packages come in the mail? Lol who knows

I?m sure there will be some form of mail, but we?ll have to wait and see

 

[John Wick]

But mail is an extension of our inventories. Unless they give us 10 extra inventory slots, I will revolt if mail goes away.

You will revolt.
I will revel.

 

[faiiryvent]

i read somewhere that since nookphones are being introduced, letters might be replaced with emails/texts and that the mailboxes will be used to receive packages - that was just a theory though and isn?t canon, but i?m really hoping we?ll still be able to send letters.

 

[Corndoggy]

i hope that we will still be able to egt mail, besides how useful the extra 10 slots are, i do really enjoy reading letters from villagers, it brings me a lot of joy. i hope that if they decide to remove it, they still make it optional to get mail, i feel like the original game made letters so important, to be part of a town you had to send nice notes to your neighbours in order to gain their friendship. However, i understand with modern times most people just text and email, sow it would make sense having the nook phone to change to emailing. i hope the game devs keep in the letter system for us oldies and lets us live out the good old life.

 

[Pansy]

i read somewhere that since nookphones are being introduced, letters might be replaced with emails/texts and that the mailboxes will be used to receive packages - that was just a theory though and isn’t canon, but i’m really hoping we’ll still be able to send letters.

imagine all your villagers walking around your island with their phones out and running into each other because they were too busy playing a game or something

like others have pointed out we still have a mailbox so id imagine it'll still be in the game in some way, maybe not from the start. if its not a feature that'd be really sad though.

 

[MKInfinite]

I was watching the september footage yesterday, and noticed that on the main's character tent, there was a letter inside his mailbox:

Spoiler: you got mail

So I think it's safe to say that normal mail is back, that said, I don't know where it would go given that our look at the inventory only gave us a glimpse to... well... your normal inventory and a clothing related icon.
Maybe, just maybe, that clothing related icon has something to do with the letters (or it's just a thing to make custom clothes). Now, take this with a grain of salt because it's just me speculating, but I believe we will still be able to use our letters as extended inventory, given that sending letters with gifts is a thing in the games.

The only thing we know for sure is that normal mail is back. It's just a matter of waiting for a direct for more info, or to keep on speculating where the letters will go. (oops I didn't even read a post that said that the mail may be used for packages, but I think my theory still stands, somewhat, given that writing letters and attaching a gift has always been a thing. But who knows.)