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

[CylieDanny]

I'm not sure If I'll play another AC game, I like this one, and as of right now I don't know. Id probably have the same group too xD. If it's on a new console then no, I'm not buying a new console just for AC. Lol. But yes, I agree that it would probably be realised the same day as a new system.

I think like most people have said here, about New Horizons being done is right. I don't really know what else there is to update, aside Maybe being able to have more then ten villagers, and maybe bringing back old npcs, or villagers. I have like no room for more villagers though. We already got a large batch of new villagers, and other feautures.

But in the next game I'm sure there will be more plots. I'd be curious how they would handle another game in terms of concept~

 

[McRibbie]

So, Nintendo did their annual New Year's artwork post on Twitter the other day:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1741625288327561315

It prominently features the DAL plane flying away, with "2024" formed by clouds above the plane's contrails.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, it's looking very likely that the Switch's successor is being announced sometime in the next few months. I don't think it's especially likely that the next game is coming out this year, but I feel as if the announcement of it is going to happen in one of this year's Directs... and this is definitely making me go "hmm, this feels like it's teasing something"

 

[Neb]

Two or three years after Nintendo’s next console releases probably. The next console will be announced this year and will probably release sometime next year, so that would put the next Animal Crossing game around 2027 or 2028. That would be around the same amount of time between games as New Leaf to New Horizons.

 

[McRibbie]

Two or three years after Nintendo’s next console releases probably. The next console will be announced this year and will probably release sometime next year, so that would put the next Animal Crossing game around 2027 or 2028. That would be around the same amount of time between games as New Leaf to New Horizons.

Eh, I feel as if 2027-2028's too late for the next AC game? That's a good 6-7 years of absolutely nothing except for Pocket Camp updates (and given they added the last set of villagers late last week, it could be coming to a close at some point in the near future), compared to the 6-7 years in between NL and NH where we got HHD and amiibo Festival in 2015, the Welcome amiibo update in late 2016, and Pocket Camp in late 2017.

As I said a long while ago, I don't think we're getting another spinoff (HHD ended up turned into a DLC side mode for NH, amiibo Festival sold badly even by the Wii U's standards, even Aya Kyogoku said it existed for the purpose of making Animal Crossing amiibo figures, and its devs at NdCube Tokyo have seemingly exclusively worked on Pocket Camp for the best part of a decade). Splatoon 3's coming to a close, with what's heavily implied to be its final season coming out on Saturday, and Animal Crossing and Splatoon generally seem to alternate on the release schedules (Welcome amiibo came out in the gap between the first game and Splatoon 2, and NH came out between 2 and 3)... and given it's been referred to as "the third part of the trilogy", I don't anticipate Splatoon 4 coming out anytime soon.

Things seem to be heavily pointing towards soon for the next game. The Switch's successor's announcement has been announced (all we know right now is that it's not happening in the June Nintendo Direct) The 2024 New Years art feels like it's hinting at the next game in the same way the 2020 Splatoon art did. Pocket Camp's got all the regular villagers now, and is either waiting for new villagers to be added in a new mainline AC game or it's steadily but surely winding itself down. Even the presence of WW's title theme as a "you failed" K.K. song and future secret song seems to coincide with WW's 20th anniversary next November (unless you live in a European country like England, France or Italy like me, in which case it's the best part of 2 years away).

Unless they've done something incredibly stupid, like the AC equivalent of the Mario Kart 8 Booster Course Pass (here's all the furniture from Pocket Camp, ripped directly from the game so it looks horrendously cheap compared to NH itself!), another party game (NdCube apparently have another game in development) or something else, nah. I don't feel like it's going to take as long as the gap between NL and NH again.

Admittedly, it's already a longer gap between entries than even the gap between LGTTC and NL (in Japan), so it's probably going to be second place... but I genuinely think we've got a decent chance of hearing about it before the end of the year.

 

[Doo]

2026, I don’t think the gap will be as big as between NL and NH because of how well NH sold, but Nintendo were supporting NH regularly until the end of 2021, plus the new console will probably release 2025-26

 

[BakaRina]

Definitely a good amount of time after the new switch comes out, I figure. How long after, I just hope it won’t be too long. I want Animal Crossing in my life.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

I am so excited for the next game but as I have stated in the past it will divide the fandom, I SERIOUSLY doubt Nintendo will make a game that satisfies both parties of designers and life-simmers.

TL;DR: If I had to guess when the next Animal Crossing would release it would be around 2025 / 2027 (more likely).

I still agree with this! I pretty much think Nintendo will wait until 2027. 2025 was a pipe dream for sure. I can’t say I’ll honestly be that excited, Nintendo has definitely done much better recently with games like Mario Wonder, Party Superstars and Pikmin 4. Hoping they continue making quality games since I was very disappointed in the switch for a while.

Still am an ACNL, 3DS and Wii U stan!

 

[Mars Adept]

We don’t even know if a Switch successor will release in 2025. 2027/2028 seems likely for a new AC game. The only reason why the older games released so close to eachother is because Splatoon didn’t exist yet.

 

[McRibbie]

We don’t even know if a Switch successor will release in 2025. 2027/2028 seems likely for a new AC game. The only reason why the older games released so close to eachother is because Splatoon didn’t exist yet.

I mean, if it's being announced sometime in the next six months and if there's the same kind of turnaround from announcement to release that the Switch had, then yeah, the Switch successor's probably out next year.

I feel like 2027-2028's too late. I think you're completely overlooking why NH took as long as it did to come out (it's very likely they were holding off until the next Nintendo handheld as that's where the money is with AC games, given even by 2014 they were still unsure about doing a Wii U AC, and the AC leads ended up working on spinoffs in the meanwhile) and blaming it entirely on Splatoon as if it's the only thing AC's ever had dev crossover with (it doesn't help whatsoever that 99% of online Nintendo discussion has no idea that the credits for basically every Nintendo game exist online and seems to think that it has rigid, static dev teams that only ever work on 1 or 2 things) There's plenty of reasons why the older games released close to each other that aren't Splatoon or even dev crossover with the other games: smaller development scope, lower-res graphics that take less time to make, simpler lighting, having two consoles to develop for instead of one... these all ultimately reasons why it takes longer to make games now. I think the next game's got a decent head start (not even NL had as good a head start!) but I feel like it's a bigger priority than Splatoon right now.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

We don’t even know if a Switch successor will release in 2025. 2027/2028 seems likely for a new AC game. The only reason why the older games released so close to eachother is because Splatoon didn’t exist yet.

Almost every leaker/insider has confirmed the next console will release early 2025.

As for the next AC entry in the series, I would bet all my bells on 2026. I don't think AC will be a launch title nor launch the first year, mostly because the focus will be on other games: the new Mario Kart (I think this is a given, since a new MK title basically skipped the Switch; we only had the port from the Wii U with the DLC); probably a new 3D Mario (it's been almost 8 years since the last one). Add to this, probably Metroid Prime 4 will also be available for the new console (maybe as a launch title similar to what Twilight Princess was to the Wii and GCN).

It'll be 6 years since NH released in 2026 - so I think that's enough of a development window for them to release a new entry. For reference, I think they release AC games every 4 years or so, as you said, with few exceptions (I think CF took only 3 and then there's NH which took 8 years after NL; but there were a few spin off games released in between for the 3DS and Wii U).

I don't think we'll get another NH DLC nor do I think we'll get spin-offs before a mainline game releases. I also think the new game will either be a fresh start (going back to the "town" roots of GCN) or building off from what they did on NH (I'm more inclined on the latter, tbh).

 

[Opossum]

I personally think we're still another 2-3 years off from even hearing about another AC game, possibly longer depending on when Nintendo announces/releases the Switch successor.

New Horizons was an insane release for the franchise, by far the most successful title in the game's history and it was also one of the most innovative and feature-rich releases by the time all of its updates came out.

Similar to how City Folk was more or less just Wild World with a "fresh" coat of paint, I wouldn't be surprised if the next AC game is quite similar to NH. I could absolutely see them porting NH over to the next-gen console to tide people over for the next release like how they remastered Wind Waker/Twilight Princess during the development of Breath of the Wild.

I think Nintendo has a lot of pressure on them in regards to how they release a "successor" to NH. NH left a lot to be desired by old fans in certain aspects while also introducing some incredible concepts (even if they were annoying) and I think they need to figure out how they want to balance handling their old audience with their new audience, who I think want some different things.

I don't think Nintendo can afford to have a City Folk level disaster in the modern day with how successful NH was, and because of this I'm expecting the next entry to probably take longer than their usual cadence.

To be honest I really did not like how barebones NH was on its release and I'm more than willing to wait longer for the next entry in the series if it means the game launches in a more complete state.

 

[wrenbow]

-

 

[Hat']

I personally think we're still another 2-3 years off from even hearing about another AC game, possibly longer depending on when Nintendo announces/releases the Switch successor.

New Horizons was an insane release for the franchise, by far the most successful title in the game's history and it was also one of the most innovative and feature-rich releases by the time all of its updates came out.

Similar to how City Folk was more or less just Wild World with a "fresh" coat of paint, I wouldn't be surprised if the next AC game is quite similar to NH. I could absolutely see them porting NH over to the next-gen console to tide people over for the next release like how they remastered Wind Waker/Twilight Princess during the development of Breath of the Wild.

I think Nintendo has a lot of pressure on them in regards to how they release a "successor" to NH. NH left a lot to be desired by old fans in certain aspects while also introducing some incredible concepts (even if they were annoying) and I think they need to figure out how they want to balance handling their old audience with their new audience, who I think want some different things.

I don't think Nintendo can afford to have a City Folk level disaster in the modern day with how successful NH was, and because of this I'm expecting the next entry to probably take longer than their usual cadence.

To be honest I really did not like how barebones NH was on its release and I'm more than willing to wait longer for the next entry in the series if it means the game launches in a more complete state.

If the new game is similar to ACNH I will combust into ash!
ACNH is probably my least favorite entry of the entire franchise, as you said, it felt barebones and lacked that signature Animal Crossing feeling, for me.
Now mind you, I still really liked the game, but the state of it at 2.0 should’ve been how the game was at release.
New Leaf just put the bar so high for me, and ACNH felt more like a Sims 2: Castaway spin-off.
Then again, innovation and risk taking is cool, but let’s come back to some good old forest and leave islands behind please!

I’m expecting a 2026 release, if the Switch’s successor comes out in 2025, I feel like the next Mario Galaxy/Odyssey game and Mario Kart 9 will be launching the new console.
So I wouldn’t bet on Animal Crossing coming out in 2025 at all. We might start hearing about it in the september 2025 direct if we’re lucky!

But I also agree that if waiting means more content and quality (which ACNH lacked) then I’ll be fine with waiting.
I just don’t want another ACNH situation to take place again where it felt like the entire dev team left after release and gave us a few holidays and a dozen furniture advertised as "Free Updates".

 

[TN4U]

I have a feeling 2026 is a solid year for a new mainline title to be released, with an announcement maybe in mid to late 2025. I still stick by the theory that they'll continue with the NH engine and retool it for whatever theme they'll go for next, but I sure hope it's not a carbon copy of it. Another spinoff on the Switch could tide us over in the meantime due to the recent announcement of the Pocket Camp servers shutting down in November (anyone up for a multiplayer Amiibo Festival-type game without requiring amiibos? ), but that seems unlikely given that the Mario Party series continues to see regular new releases and Amiibo Festival itself was pretty much a failure. I'll just keep my hopes up in that maybe something is announced by the end of the year, but I won't be disappointed if it doesn't turn out that way.

 

[Opossum]

If the new game is similar to ACNH I will combust into ash!
ACNH is probably my least favorite entry of the entire franchise, as you said, it felt barebones and lacked that signature Animal Crossing feeling, for me.
Now mind you, I still really liked the game, but the state of it at 2.0 should’ve been how the game was at release.
New Leaf just put the bar so high for me, and ACNH felt more like a Sims 2: Castaway spin-off.
Then again, innovation and risk taking is cool, but let’s come back to some good old forest and leave islands behind please!

I’m expecting a 2026 release, if the Switch’s successor comes out in 2025, I feel like the next Mario Galaxy/Odyssey game and Mario Kart 9 will be launching the new console.
So I wouldn’t bet on Animal Crossing coming out in 2025 at all. We might start hearing about it in the september 2025 direct if we’re lucky!

But I also agree that if waiting means more content and quality (which ACNH lacked) then I’ll be fine with waiting.
I just don’t want another ACNH situation to take place again where it felt like the entire dev team left after release and gave us a few holidays and a dozen furniture advertised as "Free Updates".

I'm with you 100%, here. My impressions on NH would have been a lot better had it released in its 2.0 state. But even then, NH has a lot of core issues that worry me about the direction the franchise is taking. Though truthfully if NH just had unbreakable tools and had Wild World-era villager personalities, I would enjoy the game infinitely more.

It's by no means a bad game and it was very good for the franchise in a lot of ways, but as someone who's been a fan as a child since the GameCube game, I would very much like to see the next entry in the franchise go back to the series' roots. I think it's good to experiment and try new things, but I think NH went in a direction so far that it almost doesn't feel like Animal Crossing in some aspects.