This Nintendo Switch 2 launch title is surely a no brainer

It’s both a want and a need

I’m going to say something that’s potentially a tad controversial; I have a major gripe with the Nintendo Switch.

Fair to say, the Nintendo Switch is a beloved console, and for good reason - and this is partly why I’m afraid to admit such a gripe. Certainly, it’s always had its technical limitations, but the Nintendo Switch is a console that plays to its strengths, well, for the most part anyway. You see, my issue is more with Nintendo, I suppose, rather than the console itself. When I say that the console plays to its strengths, I’m angelling towards the fact that it’s carved out a heartwarming, wholesome, family-friendly identity with its first-party titles, and that vastly differs from how you may view, say, PlayStation or Xbox.

When you think of the Nintendo Switch, I’m imagining Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are a few of the characterising titles that spring to mind. That latter pick, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is particularly synonymous with the console, defining the pandemic-era of gaming and yet, this is where my gripe comes in. I’ve always found myself baffled by Nintendo’s somewhat disregard of the game.

Animal Crossing has always found its audience on Nintendo consoles, but I don’t exactly think developers were prepared for the franchise’s stratospheric rise with New Horizons. As of December 2024, the title has sold over 47 million copies. For comparison, the second best performing entry in the series, New Leaf, has shifted just over 13 million units. And yes, while it was arguably the pandemic’s lack of social connection that drew people into New Horizons, it was the game itself that made them stay. Many of us fell in love with the game’s formula for the first time, from befriending our island’s inhabitants to visiting the incredible creations of our IRL friends.

ICYMI: You can view the Nintendo Switch 2’s original reveal below.

And luckily for Nintendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is exactly the kind of title that you can milk the lifecycle of. It’s very easy to rack up hundreds of hours within it without even realising but eventually, players will grow bored. The thing is that it’s not hard to rectify that. Throw in the odd item drop, perhaps a new limited time event, and it’s enough to keep many of us satisfied - and yet, Nintendo really just pulled the plug less than two years after launch.

While developers did drop multiple updates during the game’s initial heyday, New Horizons only ever received one DLC and after Happy Home Paradise was released in November of 2021, Nintendo essentially bid the game farewell. While the game continues to boast a respectable playerbase, it’s hard to not ponder the alternative eventuality of what that playerbase might look like today had New Horizons continued to receive support and post-launch content beyond 2021. There’s no reason why that couldn’t have happened. Just take a look at Stardew Valley, the game’s biggest competitor and one created by a single developer at that. That particular title has just celebrated its ninth anniversary and continues to be expanded with huge content drops.

It’s with all of this in mind that I’ve convinced myself that a new Animal Crossing entry may be included as a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title. I just can’t justify why else Nintendo might’ve abandoned the title, unless it was for the reason that it had a bunch of ideas that it decided to save for the next instalment; a 360-degree camera view perhaps, or the return of old villagers. In fact, I’d love to see villagers more fully immerse themselves in your creation - whether that be an island or town - with devs adding in more interactive objects, or maybe even new businesses and additional building levels … I could go on.

Am I inhaling copium? Possibly, but I’m going to keep gaslighting myself into believing that the Nintendo Switch 2 will deliver us the most impressive Animal Crossing instalment yet. It’s a no brainer because if they don’t? Well, it’ll be the most colossal of missed opportunities. You’ve got to strike while the iron is hot and considering the fandom has already been left to cool for four years, Nintendo is playing a risky game.