Should Nintendo start working on a sequel for Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the fifth installation in Nintendo's famous Animal Crossing series, was all the craze during the global lockdown of 2020. It resembled the very thing that people were missing due to the pandemic: a normal life. Naturally, the game rose to fame very quickly and has new members entering the community to date.

Nintendo sold millions of copies of the game, and the Nintendo Switch became the highest selling console in 2020, despite PlayStation releasing new-gen consoles the same year.

Naturally, it came as a huge shock to the community when Nintendo made no announcement regarding updates or future plans for their bestselling life-simulation series, Animal Crossing, during E3 2021. Fans who were buzzing with excitement were simply met with disappointment.

Fans flooded social media with memes after Nintendo's disappointing presentation at E3 2021 (Image via God is a Geek)

Does Nintendo have any future plans for Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

There were rumors afloat much before the E3 2021 presentation that Nintendo was probably working on a new sequel for the Animal Crossing franchise. Nintendo's silence regarding Animal Crossing: New Horizons during E3 further confirmed these suspicions.

Later on, Nintendo's head Doug Bowser's announcement about the developers working on a big update for New Horizons came as a beacon of hope for all fans of the title. However, even this turned out to be in vain as every update heavily disappointed veterans of the game.

This has given rise to serious discussions about whether Nintendo has any further plans for New Horizons, and most speculations suggest that Nintendo has moved on from its billion-dollar project.

Nintendo has stopped introducing newer events and items with each update lately and keeps reintroducing older events. This is a trend players have seen since Pocket Camp.

After a year or so since the release of Pocket Camp, Nintendo stopped introducing newer items and events into the game and kept relying on older events. The game eventually got boring for veterans, and then Nintendo released a newer title into the series.

The current situation seems eerily similar, as a year after New Horizons' release, Nintendo has almost stopped introducing new elements into the game, simply relying on older ones. Therefore, it would not be too wrong to assume that Nintendo is working on a sequel to New Horizons.

Hopefully, much like previous iterations of the game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, too, will remain active, receiving updates every once in a while so that die-hard fans of the title can continue playing it.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the author.