Nintendo President Explains Why Animal Crossing’s 3.0 Update Released After 4 Years

3 hours ago

The recent Version 3.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out of seemingly nowhere as a very welcome surprise, but why now?

Many have speculated about various reasons why Nintendo chose to release an Animal Crossing update over 4 years after definitively declaring there would be no more major updates to the game.

Thanks to a question from a Nintendo shareholder at the company’s most recent financial briefing, we have some confirmed insights from Nintendo’s president about the update’s strategy — here’s what the shareholder asked:

A major free update was released for Animal Crossing: New Horizons in January of this year. Additionally, a substantial free update was also released for Splatoon 3. What was the business rationale behind releasing these major free updates for existing Switch software after the launch of Switch 2?

In response, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that the update has succeeded in bringing many customers back to Animal Crossing: New Horizons after having taken a long break, including on Nintendo Switch 2:

In January, in addition to the free update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, we also released Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Since the update, many customers have been playing the game, including those who had stepped away from it for a while and have now returned. We’re also seeing an increase in people playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Switch 2, so we believe we’ve gotten off to a good start this year.

He continued his comments to point out the obvious — new games need to release regularly to grow the Nintendo Switch 2 — but that Nintendo feels it’s important to keep Switch 1 players engaged, which is exactly what the Version 3.0 update did:

When it comes to growing a new platform, it’s essential to release new titles on a regular basis. In addition to that, as we work to transition customers from Switch to Switch 2 over the coming years, we believe it’s extremely important to maintain our connection with customers who are engaged with Nintendo gaming hardware.

Much more interestingly, Furukawa remarked that the intention of these updates is to encourage people to keep playing, while they wait for a new game to be released that they’re interested in — like the next Animal Crossing game:

With that in mind, by updating Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Splatoon 3—both of which achieved significant sales on Switch—at this timing, we wanted to encourage more people to continue playing on Switch while also creating a pathway for customers to transition to Switch 2 at their own pace, such as when a new title they’re interested in is released. From this perspective, we see value in updating software for the Switch, which has a large installed base, as a way to maintain engagement and bring players back to these games.

The quotes above are machine translated from Japanese to English. Nintendo will release an official English translation of Furukawa’s comments soon, and this article will be updated when available.

Our Commentary & What This Means for Animal Crossing

Generally speaking, Furukawa’s answers match what we expected the strategy to be for Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Version 3.0 update: keep Animal Crossing fans engaged with Nintendo, while we wait a little longer for the next game to be released on Nintendo Switch 2.

There are many fans who are only interested in Animal Crossing, and don’t have that much interest in other Nintendo games, so they’ll need to eventually release a new game exclusive to Switch 2 for those customers to upgrade.

Specifically, the comments about ‘creating a pathway for customers to transition to Switch 2 at their own pace, such as when a new title they’re interested in is released’ seem quite pointed towards the notion that many Animal Crossing fans are likely waiting for the next game to release before upgrading to Nintendo Switch 2.

This explains why the vast majority of the features found with January’s update are available for free to Nintendo Switch 1 players and not exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 — the goal was to keep Switch 1 players engaged until the new game interests them, rather than only driving immediate upgrades to Switch 2 right now.

The Version 3.0 update can perhaps be thought of as a ‘bridge’ for keeping us engaged with the series as Nintendo continues work on developing that next game, while potentially encouraging some fans to make the jump early to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition with 4K resolution and other small improvements.

It’s worth mentioning the Nintendo Switch has sophisticated data collection that reports back to Nintendo exactly how many players are loading up the game on a daily basis, returning after a long break, or even exactly what actions we’re taking in-game. They’ll have seen the slow drop-off in activity over the past few years without updates, and exactly how much of a boost came from returning players in January.

When Will the Next Animal Crossing Release?

The question remains though — when will the next new Animal Crossing game for Nintendo Switch 2 arrive? Our takeaway from these Furukawa comments points to the medium term.

Taking his words literally about ‘timing’, it would be unwise to release these updates at all if the next game was immediately around the corner. Between that timing and the existing line-up of games scheduled for 2026 already, the next game surely won’t arrive this year.

However, it would make just as little sense to release the Version 3.0 update too far away from a new game’s launch, as the intended effect of maintaining engagement will eventually fade again if too much time passes before the next Animal Crossing game.

Furukawa mentioned another game, Splatoon 3, in his remarks that we can potentially look to as an example. Last year, Splatoon 3 received a free Ver. 10 update for Nintendo Switch 2 that improved resolution and frame rate, plus added new weapons for all players.

That update released in June 2025, while the upcoming new Splatoon Raiders game on Nintendo Switch 2 is planned for launch sometime in 2026 — suggesting a gap of around 1 to 1.5 years between an update and a new game.

If we take January’s Version 3.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on a similar timeline, perhaps we could expect to see the next Animal Crossing game release sometime in 2027? That feels like the most likely possibility at this point. We’re ultimately just speculating, but it’s worth thinking about.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below on when you think we might see the next Animal Crossing game for Nintendo Switch 2!

For more on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out our articles and guides below:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons News Version 3.0 Update

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