When do you think we’ll get the next animal crossing game?

[Seastar]

I think it's most likely to be on the next console unless they make a spin-off first. I couldn't possibly guess what year.
However, it's also possible there's not one on it since there wasn't a main Animal Crossing game on the Wii U, though this is probably because the Wii U didn't do well.

 

[Mr.Fox]

I think it's most likely to be on the next console unless they make a spin-off first. I couldn't possibly guess what year.
However, it's also possible there's not one on it since there wasn't a main Animal Crossing game on the Wii U, though this is probably because the Wii U didn't do well.

Next system would be my guess too.
I doubt there’d be a gap (system wise) since ACNH did so well (partially due to the pandemic).

 

[VanitasFan26]

Like I said before. It will be a long while until the next Nintendo console is announced and the new mainline AC game will be released. I don't think we will see a Side AC game anytime soon considering that they just added Happy Home Paradise as a DLC Expansion to ACNH back in 2021.

 

[McRibbie]

I think it's most likely to be on the next console unless they make a spin-off first. I couldn't possibly guess what year.
However, it's also possible there's not one on it since there wasn't a main Animal Crossing game on the Wii U, though this is probably because the Wii U didn't do well.

tbh I've come to think they weren't ever planning to do a Wii U Animal Crossing even before the Wii U turned out to be a failure. The handheld games have traditionally sold more than the console ones (GC did 2.71 million and LGTTC did 4.32 million... but WW did 11.75 million and NL did 13.04 million) and even a year or so after NL came out, series creator/then-producer/current general producer Katsuya Eguchi said "the current gameplay style of Animal Crossing is best suited for a handheld device"

Lo and behold, the next mainline Animal Crossing game was on a handheld device, because the Switch does both. I don't really see them splitting up back into separate handhelds and consoles again, because it nearly killed them supporting both the 3DS and Wii U, so I don't think they're just going to skip the next console.

In general the Switch appears to be winding down, given this year there's a handful of big titles like TOTK, Pikmin 4 and Super Mario Bros Wonder, but the rest of Nintendo's release schedule for this year seems to be full of GameCube, Wii and 3DS ports, a remake of a SNES game and smaller titles like WarioWare and Batonetta Origins. Splatoon 3 isn't going for 3 years of updates like I thought it would, it's going for exactly 2 years. Everything seems to be pointing towards sometime around next Christmas as when the Switch's successor launches. Given NH's success, I think it might end up coming out sooner in the Switch successor's lifespan than NH did (because compared to most other AC games, which launched 1-2 years after the console did, NH launched late), so I'm still erring towards 2025, maybe 2026 at the latest (AC's 25th anniversary is also in 2026, so they might want to do something to do with that)

I also don't see them doing a spinoff again because Happy Home Paradise ended up being an add-on for NH, amiibo Festival ended up being the worst-selling Animal Crossing game of all time (and on top of that, its developers at ndCube Tokyo seem to be the ones working on Pocket Camp), and in general the two spin-offs we got were largely designed around bringing AC amiibo to market and experimenting with amiibo when Nintendo was at peak amiibo.

 

[oak]

Not for quite some time unfortunately, even though I would like another game in the next few years.

 

[Bui]

Hopefully only after it's feature complete and they don't have to drip feed us the rest of the content that the earlier games shipped with from the start.

 

[corlee1289]

Most likely when the new console comes out, there will likely be another AC rendition as they have maxed out on updates for NH

 

[kisaker39]

i feel like the next animal crossing game would most likely be a port of Population Growing or Wild World onto the switch. i dont have any logic to back this up, its just what my gut is telling me.

however, i feel as if the next new animal crossing game will be on the next nintendo console, much like what everyone else seems to think. I dont know when this new console will come out, but i feel like a new animal crossing game will be out at the earliest possible date of 2025.

a new animal crossing game is inevitable given the success of New Horizons after all. even if my prediction turns out to be untrue, a new animal crossing game will come out eventually.

 

[Shawna]

Hmmmm...I'd say 2027-2028....

 

[Rubygame]

Lately there has been news about a possible Switch 2 for 2024, I think the new Animal Crossing has already been in production for a few years and is destined to be one of the first games for the new generation just like it was with the Nintendo 3ds and the Switch. It's one of those games that Nintendo exploits to encourage to buy the new consoles because it has an unlimited entertainment capacity and, before you get tired of playing, many other games will already be out!

 

[nightglow]

Lately there has been news about a possible Switch 2 for 2024, I think the new Animal Crossing has already been in production for a few years and is destined to be one of the first games for the new generation just like it was with the Nintendo 3ds and the Switch. It's one of those games that Nintendo exploits to encourage to buy the new consoles because it has an unlimited entertainment capacity and, before you get tired of playing, many other games will already be out!

Oh yeah I saw a little bit of that. Rumor has it that it will be the second half of 2024. (Maybe fall??)And that it will have a portable mode and have a LCD screen instead of OLED. VGC reached out to Nintendo for comment but got silence (no surprise there). Supposedly Nintendo partners have development kits?

if true, then a new AC may be 2025 unless Nintendo decides to use AC as a console launch.


Edit

I saw more info today and wanted to come back here. I guess Nintendo did a private demonstration at Gamescom with the next tech with invited developers showing BotW at higher frame rates and resolution and used Nvidia's DLSS.

Id say it isn't any longer just a rumor. Looks like an improved Switch like the 3ds vs New 3ds.

 

[liliyoa]

I'm gonna combine a bunch of random crap for my prediction, I'm gonna do this assuming they are planning on making another mainline entry for the next console (like everyone else), and I do not believe they will do an amiibo update. New Leaf at the time of it's amiibo update still had a lot of active players comparatively and when they did that it revitalized an already played game and boosted sales, they also re-released the game as an "amiibo" version, for New Horizons basically everyone who is going to buy it already has and very few people (compared to total sales) still play the game or go back to it, at least I think so

1) I doubt development will have any substantial progress or maybe even start until Splatoon 3 slows down, Animal Crossing for the Switch was announced in 2019 when Splatoon 2's momentum was slowing down. (I actually remember watching the directs expecting an animal crossing announcement because I'm a super active splatoon player and was like if youre not working on the game im playing all the time than what are you working on!!)
2) Animal Crossing is a system seller now, but it's not a launch title. That's reserved for Mario and Zelda. It'll likely release about 3 years into the console's life
3) There have been a buuuuunch of rumors rn about the next console being a DS style switch, and that it'll release during the holiday season in 2024. I have no idea how much I believe either but I'll base my dates off of that.
4) Animal Crossing is a Spring game.

So, next console releases late 2024, 3ish years after that in Spring, Imma say April of 2027.

 

[McRibbie]

I'm gonna combine a bunch of random crap for my prediction, I'm gonna do this assuming they are planning on making another mainline entry for the next console (like everyone else), and I do not believe they will do an amiibo update. New Leaf at the time of it's amiibo update still had a lot of active players comparatively and when they did that it revitalized an already played game and boosted sales, they also re-released the game as an "amiibo" version, for New Horizons basically everyone who is going to buy it already has and very few people (compared to total sales) still play the game or go back to it, at least I think so

1) I doubt development will have any substantial progress or maybe even start until Splatoon 3 slows down, Animal Crossing for the Switch was announced in 2019 when Splatoon 2's momentum was slowing down. (I actually remember watching the directs expecting an animal crossing announcement because I'm a super active splatoon player and was like if youre not working on the game im playing all the time than what are you working on!!)
2) Animal Crossing is a system seller now, but it's not a launch title. That's reserved for Mario and Zelda. It'll likely release about 3 years into the console's life
3) There have been a buuuuunch of rumors rn about the next console being a DS style switch, and that it'll release during the holiday season in 2024. I have no idea how much I believe either but I'll base my dates off of that.
4) Animal Crossing is a Spring game.

So, next console releases late 2024, 3ish years after that in Spring, Imma say April of 2027.

1- AC and Splatoon's overlap gets way, way overstated imo. People seem to think that it's just one group of people who either work on one or the other, as opposed to "Nintendo EPD is at most around 1000 active development personnel, so there's a lot of overlap on everything, and that isn't even mentioning overseas localisation teams" Their producers are the same (although I think this is about to change, just look at the LEGO press release! NL and NH's director is credited as "series producer" now, but she was credited that on HHD as well so maybe not), there's an overlap of between 33 and 93 people depending on which game in the series it is, but that's far from the biggest overlap AC has with other series (unsurprisingly, given how big the dev teams are for the past couple of games, it's Zelda, but there are also overlaps with Smash Ultimate, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Bros. Wonder that are larger than AC and Splatoon's)

What I do think is that AC and Splatoon tend to alternate: Welcome amiibo came out in the year between the end of Splatoon and the start of Splatoon 2, and NH came out the year after Splatoon 2 ended (and NH ended the year before Splatoon 3 came out).
I also think the idea that they haven't even started planning a new AC game in the past couple of years, even with just the lead devs, is maddening. It's been a massive hit! Splatoon 2 sold ever so slightly more than NL did, but Splatoon 3's not especially doing great right now and it's in no way outselling NH, so Splatoon 4's not really in a rush to come out (imo it generally seems in need of a NL-style rethink at this point)

2- the next 3D Mario game is probably going to come out close to the next Nintendo console's launch (but god, the release schedule for the next year is oversaturated with Mario games, with only the Another Code remake to look forward to in terms of non-Mario games so far), but it's way, way too soon for a brand new Zelda game given TOTK just released.

I also think that Animal Crossing generally happens during the first couple of years of a console's lifespan more often than not. 2020 was late for NH to come out on the Switch given it happened around the third anniversary of the console, and the GameCube game is its own unique thing given it came out in 4 different years in 4 different regions (in one of those, 3 times)

It's probably not a launch title, I think you're right there, that seems way too soon to me. But I think it's coming out earlier on in the next console's lifespan than any other console before, except from maybe Doubutsu no Mori + in December 2001 (3 months after the GameCube came out).

3- yeah, the Switch's successor is probably out next Christmas. When your schedule is that remake-heavy over the course of a couple of years, yeah, it's a sign that things are slowly but surely wrapping up and moving over to the next platform.

4- Animal Crossing has released more consistently in autumn than it has in spring; the American release of the GC game was in September 2002 and the European release of the GC game was September 2004, the JP release of WW was November 2005, the JP and American release of LGTTC was November 2008, the JP release of NL was November 2012, the American and European versions of HHD were in September 2015, amiibo Festival was in November 2015, the Welcome amiibo update was in November 2016, Pocket Camp was in November 2017, and NH 2.0/Happy Home Paradise came out in November 2021.

Compare that to spring, which has only happened 3 times: the N64 version of Doubutsu no Mori came out in April 2001, the European version of WW came out in March 2006, and NH came out worldwide in March 2020.

Again, probably not an autumn game because it's not coming out immediately after the Switch 2 comes out, and it's not coming out immediately after the updates for Splatoon 3 wrap up next autumn, and personally I feel as if it's going to be around the same time as NH came out. But 2027 feels way, way too late to me. The gap between NL and NH is an exception, not the rule. We're not getting any spinoffs, we're not avoiding home consoles like the plague because they only sell 2-4 million as opposed to 11-40 million. I'm guessing 2025, maybe 2026 if it's really late (the fact that WW's title theme is getting a K.K. aircheck next game kind of reinforces that to me, because it's around the same time as WW's 20th anniversary)

 

[liliyoa]

1- AC and Splatoon's overlap gets way, way overstated imo. People seem to think that it's just one group of people who either work on one or the other, as opposed to "Nintendo EPD is at most around 1000 active development personnel, so there's a lot of overlap on everything, and that isn't even mentioning overseas localisation teams" Their producers are the same (although I think this is about to change, just look at the LEGO press release! NL and NH's director is credited as "series producer" now, but she was credited that on HHD as well so maybe not), there's an overlap of between 33 and 93 people depending on which game in the series it is, but that's far from the biggest overlap AC has with other series (unsurprisingly, given how big the dev teams are for the past couple of games, it's Zelda, but there are also overlaps with Smash Ultimate, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Bros. Wonder that are larger than AC and Splatoon's)

What I do think is that AC and Splatoon tend to alternate: Welcome amiibo came out in the year between the end of Splatoon and the start of Splatoon 2, and NH came out the year after Splatoon 2 ended (and NH ended the year before Splatoon 3 came out).
I also think the idea that they haven't even started planning a new AC game in the past couple of years, even with just the lead devs, is maddening. It's been a massive hit! Splatoon 2 sold ever so slightly more than NL did, but Splatoon 3's not especially doing great right now and it's in no way outselling NH, so Splatoon 4's not really in a rush to come out (imo it generally seems in need of a NL-style rethink at this point)

2- the next 3D Mario game is probably going to come out close to the next Nintendo console's launch (but god, the release schedule for the next year is oversaturated with Mario games, with only the Another Code remake to look forward to in terms of non-Mario games so far), but it's way, way too soon for a brand new Zelda game given TOTK just released.

I also think that Animal Crossing generally happens during the first couple of years of a console's lifespan more often than not. 2020 was late for NH to come out on the Switch given it happened around the third anniversary of the console, and the GameCube game is its own unique thing given it came out in 4 different years in 4 different regions (in one of those, 3 times)

It's probably not a launch title, I think you're right there, that seems way too soon to me. But I think it's coming out earlier on in the next console's lifespan than any other console before, except from maybe Doubutsu no Mori + in December 2001 (3 months after the GameCube came out).

3- yeah, the Switch's successor is probably out next Christmas. When your schedule is that remake-heavy over the course of a couple of years, yeah, it's a sign that things are slowly but surely wrapping up and moving over to the next platform.

4- Animal Crossing has released more consistently in autumn than it has in spring; the American release of the GC game was in September 2002 and the European release of the GC game was September 2004, the JP release of WW was November 2005, the JP and American release of LGTTC was November 2008, the JP release of NL was November 2012, the American and European versions of HHD were in September 2015, amiibo Festival was in November 2015, the Welcome amiibo update was in November 2016, Pocket Camp was in November 2017, and NH 2.0/Happy Home Paradise came out in November 2021.

Compare that to spring, which has only happened 3 times: the N64 version of Doubutsu no Mori came out in April 2001, the European version of WW came out in March 2006, and NH came out worldwide in March 2020.

Again, probably not an autumn game because it's not coming out immediately after the Switch 2 comes out, and it's not coming out immediately after the updates for Splatoon 3 wrap up next autumn, and personally I feel as if it's going to be around the same time as NH came out. But 2027 feels way, way too late to me. The gap between NL and NH is an exception, not the rule. We're not getting any spinoffs, we're not avoiding home consoles like the plague because they only sell 2-4 million as opposed to 11-40 million. I'm guessing 2025, maybe 2026 if it's really late (the fact that WW's title theme is getting a K.K. aircheck next game kind of reinforces that to me, because it's around the same time as WW's 20th anniversary)

After reading your points I actually agree with you that 2026 is more likely, AC has a lot more fans now after ACNH sold like crazy (and also started a cozy game epidemic) so they'll likely release it sooner than later

 

[Boccages]

2025 or 2026

 

[Licorice]

Definitely not soon enough. D:

 

[TN4U]

Some of the previous posters brought up valid points when it comes to past release trends and most of the developers alternating between Animal Crossing and Splatoon, and I'd imagine something may get announced sometime next year. Whether that will be on the Switch or (more than likely) the next rumored Nintendo console, it would be criminal to not announce anything at all in 2024, not even a spinoff. New Horizons sold incredibly well, though for the wrong reasons. The good thing about that game, however, is that it brought a lot of new fans to the series; even those that originally thought would never find themselves liking it. Heck, for me, it made me a super fan.

Obviously, Nintendo wants to take their time to learn about what worked and what didn't in New Horizons, and apply what they know now for the next game. They've never really rushed poorly made product out the door, as they believe that first impressions are one of the most important things to show off when it comes to their games. In New Horizons' case, the main reason why all the holiday events came via updates was because of the nature of how the game's supposed to be played. It's to be played in real time, and was obviously not designed for time travelers in mind, as Nintendo officially discourages it, but doesn't really enforce it. While I am disappointed that the 2.0 update and HHP were the last new features the game saw, there comes a point where you just sort of run out of ideas for new gameplay features that aren't strictly quality-of-life. Am I saying that Nintendo actually ran out of ideas? Not really, but I'm simply trying to think logically from a developer's standpoint. Splatoon 3 was gaining traction around the same time, and obviously a newer game means more attention that needs to be brought to, and they had to move on because of that. As Splatoon 3 will most likely be done releasing new content next year, I expect something to at least be announced for the Animal Crossing series by then.

Meanwhile, there's a reason why a lot of Mario games are coming out next year - Mario and Zelda in general have been the company's biggest sellers for decades, and in my opinion, are easier to implement new story content and gameplay features. Besides, I don't think there's been a whole lot of major mainstream Mario stuff since Odyssey, as we've mostly seen spinoffs and re-releases of older games. Animal Crossing has never been Nintendo's main thing, so it's easier for them to cater to their more established series as they know players will pick them up. Until New Horizons, Animal Crossing was more of a niche series that had a dedicated fanbase, but was not entirely catered to every gamer. As the fanbase has grown a significant amount since then, Nintendo probably has an idea by now that a lot of people want a new Animal Crossing title, but at the moment don't want to promise anything to the fans either and put themselves in a bad spot to rush themselves.

We, the fans, just need to be a bit patient and let things play out. It's hard to wait, but they'll announce the next game whenever they feel are ready to do so. I just hope that my prediction turns out to be correct.

 

[McRibbie]

Meanwhile, there's a reason why a lot of Mario games are coming out next year - Mario and Zelda in general have been the company's biggest sellers for decades, and in my opinion, are easier to implement new story content and gameplay features. Besides, I don't think there's been a whole lot of major mainstream Mario stuff since Odyssey, as we've mostly seen spinoffs and re-releases of older games. Animal Crossing has never been Nintendo's main thing, so it's easier for them to cater to their more established series as they know players will pick them up. Until New Horizons, Animal Crossing was more of a niche series that had a dedicated fanbase, but was not entirely catered to every gamer. As the fanbase has grown a significant amount since then, Nintendo probably has an idea by now that a lot of people want a new Animal Crossing title, but at the moment don't want to promise anything to the fans either and put themselves in a bad spot to rush themselves.

Wild World and New Leaf both sold around 11-13 million. That isn't niche at all, that's a top 10 best selling game on the console! Wild World outsold Super Mario 64 DS and both Zelda games released on the system, and New Leaf outsold Super Mario 3D Land and all four Zelda games on the system. It's been pretty consistently royally thrashed by Mario Kart (the gap between 8DX and NH is larger than the gap between 7 and NL!), 2D Mario and Pokèmon before then, but it's definitely up there with those.

like, a niche Nintendo game is something like Pikmin or Metroid (which has the opposite problem, it's thought as as more important than it actually is when it's traditionally done awfully in Japan), but the consistently top 10-selling series (aside from LGTTC, but that's not on a handheld) Animal Crossing is really not one of them

 

[TN4U]

Wild World and New Leaf both sold around 11-13 million. That isn't niche at all, that's a top 10 best selling game on the console! Wild World outsold Super Mario 64 DS and both Zelda games released on the system, and New Leaf outsold Super Mario 3D Land and all four Zelda games on the system. It's been pretty consistently royally thrashed by Mario Kart (the gap between 8DX and NH is larger than the gap between 7 and NL!), 2D Mario and Pokèmon before then, but it's definitely up there with those.

like, a niche Nintendo game is something like Pikmin or Metroid (which has the opposite problem, it's thought as as more important than it actually is when it's traditionally done awfully in Japan), but the consistently top 10-selling series (aside from LGTTC, but that's not on a handheld) Animal Crossing is really not one of them

You’re right. I was probably thinking mainly of City Folk, as there were many Wii games that sold better. Wild World was one of the DS’ biggest selling games, and New Leaf grew popular as a relaxing game as well amongst the Nintendo crowd.

Nintendo has games from other series that sell more copies. Animal Crossing is definitely up there now, mostly thanks to New Horizons. It’s not Nintendo’s best selling series, but it’s one of their better ones.

 

[Sheando]

Really hoping we get something in 2025. NH has been really fun, but I don't think it has quite the longevity of New Leaf. I agree that we're going to be seeing a Switch 2 in late 2024, and I think with the massive success of New Horizons, it would make sense to release an AC game before too long. Maybe in spring 2025, but I could also see them going for a fall release to snag all that sweet, sweet holiday money.

2026 is also a possibility but I don't like that