New Horizons performing 'beyond expectations', according to Nintendo Executive Doug Bowser

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been performing "well beyond expectations," according to Doug Bowser of Nintendo fame. Those who are in-the-know will recall that Bowser is the Nintendo of America President, which does make him a tiny bit of an authority on the topic. Either way, the man was extremely happy to share his thoughts on how the company's latest (and greatest) Animal Crossing may have made a difference in the ongoing pandemic.

Bowser spoke with Polygon on the topic, though they did also talk about heaps of other stuff that we won't go into much detail on. For example, they touched upon Joy-Con drift issues, Nintendo's apparent obsession with the date of March 31st, and the rumors on there being a Switch Pro in production. Heaps of awesome stuff, so be sure to check the interview out in full when you get the chance.

"Well beyond expectations’ is, I think, the simplest way to put it in," said Bowser when Polygon's Russ Frushtick asked about New Horizons' performance during the ongoing pandemic. "I don’t know that we expected it to be truly the cultural touchpoint that it became across the globe. And what we were pleased to see is how it redefined how people thought about video games and how they incorporated it in their lives."

A tall order, to be sure, but we can't say we necessarily disagree! "We saw people celebrating graduations; having birthday parties; weddings, even – virtually, through the game itself." 

Since AC Runway does specialize in in-game player expression, Bowser's commentary feels on-point to be sure. New Horizons took the gaming world by storm, and its popularity has basically reached the point where - if you own a Switch - the game is a must-have no matter your genre preference. It's great, and it even keeps getting better view content updates, hotfixes, and expansion systems. Coincidentally, you can stay on top of those by checking in with our Community Page from time to time.

"And we were pleased to see that we were able to provide a bit of a respite in what was pretty chaotic times and challenging times for folks. So it’s a result of many things," continued Bowser. "First of all: Developers did a wonderful job of creating a great universe, a great environment, great characters, and so that was very much engaging, but then, of course, the time of its release allowed a number of people who hadn’t even played video games to come in and enjoy and understand not only video games, but understand Animal Crossing much further."

All in all, New Horizons ended up being at just the right place at just the right time. Sometimes, it really is that simple, it seems. We can't wait to see what else Nintendo has got in store for us: doubly so since the pandemic will likely be going strong in 2021, too. Fingers crossed it wraps up sooner than we think!