Release Time & Date For The January Festivale Update In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

5 years ago Justin 6 Comments

The latest January Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons introducing a new Festivale holiday event, new reactions, and more is just around the corner! Learn exactly when this free update will arrive for download on your Nintendo Switch.

The January 2021 Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons including the new Festivale event with Pave, four new Festivale themed Reactions, and a selection of new seasonal holiday items in Nook Shopping is scheduled for release this Thursday, January 28th according to Nintendo!

However, the company didn’t specify an exact release time in the official trailer, which naturally leads fans to wonder exactly when they’ll be able to download and enjoy these new features in New Horizons. Thanks to some additional information on the Japanese Nintendo website as usual, we have concrete details on the exact release time!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons January Festivale Update Download Release Time

According to the official Nintendo website in Japanese, the Version 1.7.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons containing the new Festivale event with Pave, will be released at exactly 10AM Japan Standard Time on Thursday, January 28th.

RELATED: Absolutely Everything New In Animal Crossing’s January Update (Mermaid Fence, Festivale, Reactions, Beans)

RELATED: Browse Every New Item Added In The January Update For Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Datamine)

For everyone living in other time zones, which almost certainly includes you, that release time converts to 5PM Pacific Time or 8PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 27th! That’s notable because it means the update will actually be arriving quite a bit earlier in some parts of the world than Nintendo advertised in the English trailer.

Here’s a comprehensive list of various Animal Crossing: New Horizons January Festivale Update release times around the world, based on the Japanese release date:

• Wed, January 27th at 5PM Pacific Time (PST)
• Wed, January 27th at 6PM Mountain Time (MST)
• Wed, January 27th at 7PM Central Time (CST)
• Wed, January 27th at 8PM Eastern Time (EST)
• Thu, January 28th at 1AM GMT
• Thu, January 28th at 12PM Australian Eastern Time (AEDT)

Technically speaking, Nintendo hasn’t officially announced these release times for outside of Japan, but every single previous major update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons has followed the exact same pattern with the update delivered worldwide simultaneously.

Therefore based on both the Japanese website and past updates, we can say with certainty that you’ll be able to download the January Festivale Update at 5PM Pacific Time or 8PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 27th!

So if you’re excited to get your hands on the January 2021 Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons as soon as possible, be ready and waiting at your Nintendo Switch for an early update release at the times listed above. Keep in mind you will likely have to manually trigger the update, which we’ll detail in the section below.

How To Download January Festivale Update For Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Your copy of the game should update automatically for you, but if for some reason it doesn’t, you’ll be able to manually trigger any available updates by pressing the + button on the Animal Crossing: New Horizons home screen icon, selecting Software Update, and hitting Via the Internet.

The Nintendo Switch will then check for all available Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates when you do so and download the January Festivale Update (Version 1.7.o) if it’s been released on time.

Sometimes it can take a few extra minutes for Nintendo to get the update fully pushed out though, so don’t panic if it doesn’t work immediately!

When Can You Play The Festivale Event?

While the January Update will be available to download for everyone on either January 27th or 28th, it doesn’t mean all of the expected features will be immediately available to experience.

In fact, this is looking to be the most lackluster Animal Crossing: New Horizons update so far at its immediate release for fans since almost every feature surrounds a holiday or event coming after the update release date, rather than standard new features.

Notably, the new Festivale Event with special character Pave won’t be celebrated until February 15th. However, we’re told that Festivale clothing will for sale at Able Sisters a bit early on February 1st, as well as some furniture items at Nook’s Cranny. We’ll have more information on that when the update releases.

Furthermore, early indications from Nintendo point to a return of the controversial real-time date locking of holiday events like Festivale that previously blocked players from experiencing Turkey Day or Toy Day in advance.

As for some of the other new features in the January Update, we’re expecting a new pack of Reactions for purchase at Nook’s Cranny beginning on February 1st. Plus, a variety of seasonal holiday items will be for order in Nook Shopping throughout the next couple months — check out our full article here.

What’s Next After The January Update?

Even before it’s released, the January Update has definitely received some mixed reception from the Animal Crossing community with many expressing disappointment.

So what’s next? We don’t know much yet, but Nintendo teased the upcoming Super Mario series furniture update once again scheduled for release sometime during March 2021, as the preview image from the latest trailer shows with a Mushroom and Star.

For more details on what might come out of the March Update, check out our original article covering the Super Mario announcement.

Stay tuned to Animal Crossing World for everything on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, including our extensive Guides section here. Our most popular pages include Sanrio Card Reprint, January Update, ColourPop Collection, Winter Snowflake Recipes, How To Build Perfect Snowboy, Redd Art, and Sea Creatures.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons News Update