Animal Crossing: New Horizons - The Content Plan for 2021
Late last week we had a look-see at what Doug Bowser, the President of Nintendo America, had to say about Animal Crossing: New Horizons' incredible success in the wake of the ongoing pandemic. In Bowser's interview with Polygon, he spoke about a whole heap of stuff, but the topic of Animal Crossing content plan for 2021 he merely broached. This is, of course, to be expected, since both Nintendo and the developers likely want to keep a few things under wraps. Regardless, Bowser did have a few interesting things to say.
Presumably, some of them included princesses, plumbers, and yet another castle...
"You know, I was looking back to [Animal Crossing] New Leaf and the way that game was supported long-term," said Polygon's journalist Russ Frushtick. "It had its yearlong schedule. And then, basically, it stuck with that same schedule for several years. And then there was a significant content update that came later. Given the immediate success of [New Horizons], do you foresee following a similar cadence as New Leaf? Or do you think this becomes more something in line of the Animal Crossing mobile game, which is constantly evolving? At this point, you are releasing, like, once a quarter, a pretty significant update in New Horizons. Do you see that continuing beyond this first year?"
To that, Bowser explained that he sees two potential content update avenues for New Horizons moving forward. The seasonal update cadence is dictated primarily by developers, he said, and this leads to seasonal and thematic updates, as well as to enhancing core gameplay features and introducing new ones across the board. This cadence will - he said - likely continue in 2021 too.
"I think the thing that is very unique and different about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however, is also the [user-generated content], and people’s ability to really lean into user-generated content and make that available and to share that with their friends. And that doesn’t happen on any cadence. That’s an ongoing, constantly changing and evolving environment where people can visit each other’s islands and take advantage of that UGC, bring it to their islands and share it. So I think that’s another aspect that really is strengthening the engagement over time with Animal Crossing," added Bowser.
So - we're still going to be getting thematic and seasonal content updates, but a greater focus on user-generated content wouldn't be unexpected, either. If you'd like to see what a major portion of "UCG" Bowser mentioned looks like, AC Runway has got you covered!
What is Animal Crossing New Horizons 2021 Content going to look like?
If you're wondering what all of this really means in practice, all you need to do is to scroll back a year-or-so and see what ACR covered in the first place. We're talking four major seasonal updates, for the most part, though with all sorts of neat little events peppered throughout each of the four seasons.
Have a looksie:
Of course, these three are merely the big ones. In-between, we got a huge variety of things to do, ranging from the recent Turkey Day celebrations all the way to the cool little Bug-Off event back in July. Basically, there's almost always something new and exciting for players to be focusing on.
We fully expect for more core gameplay features to make their way into New Horizons in 2021, too, but you'll have to give us a few more weeks and months to figure out what, exactly, that might entail. In the meantime, know that Nintendo is more than happy with how New Horizons has been doing, and that there's lots more coming down the line. Fun!