Animal Crossing: New Horizons swept across the world like no other game in the franchise, bringing people new ways to express themselves and connect with each other during the Coronavirus pandemic that caused many to be stuck at home. While the game itself doesn’t differ too much from previous entries, its popularity is undeniable. With that in mind, one has to wonder whether it makes sense for Nintendo to try and catch lightning in a bottle again with a sequel or if it would be better to run with the current entry for as long as possible. There’s a lot to consider when taking Animal Crossing in that kind of direction, though.
To the uninitiated, Animal Crossing: New Horizons may seem like some revolutionary game that can engage casual players and hardcore turnip salesmen like nothing has before it, but that isn’t really true. The franchise has been around for a while, and a smaller subset of gamers have already been enjoying it for years. Animal Crossing: New Horizons managed to bridge the gap between this smaller group of players and the general public, bringing the franchise into the spotlight all around the world. Nintendo will need to tread carefully if it wants to keep that spotlight.
It isn’t a new term, though it has been becoming more prevalent in recent years, but essentially this is a discussion of Animal Crossing: New Horizons changing to the Games as a Service (GaaS) model. With this method, games receive a constant stream of updates, downloadable content, and the like in order to stay relevant as opposed to releasing sequels. A great example of this is Destiny 2, which most players purchased only once when it released back in 2017. Since then, Destiny 2 has grown significantly through seasonal content, expansions, and in game events.
Astute readers may point out that Destiny 2 is obviously a sequel by nature of the numeral at the end of the name, and this is a testament to show that the Games as a Service model can’t last forever. At some point, especially on console, an upgrade needs to be made that allows developers to start fresh with new ideas. Even so, the original Destiny was around for three years before its sequel came and took over, and even though it has been three years since Destiny 2‘s release, there’s no word on a Destiny 3 releasing any time soon.
In a way Animal Crossing: New Horizons is already doing this. With the way its bugs and fish are set up, there’s a sort of monthly update already baked into the game. Additionally, Nintendo hasn’t fallen behind in terms of seasonal events, with Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas events to name just a few. Considering these, players have gotten a ton of new content added to the game already without paying a single dime for it, showing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ value doesn’t depreciate over time like standard games.
Perhaps most importantly, there’s a seemingly endless flow of content coming from the game’s more creative aspects. Players can create nearly anything they want to within the limits of the game, and they can even share that content with each other. Even if Nintendo doesn’t put out new content, other players are always creating and sharing. Players can visit others’ islands, check out dream towns, and more all without Nintendo even lifting a finger. These things place Animal Crossing: New Horizons just shy of the Games as a Service model, and at this point many are still expecting a sequel at some point.
Though it would be easy to attribute Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ success entirely to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, that would be selling the game short and isn’t the full story. Animal Crossing has always had an appeal much wider than its actual audience, and New Horizons took things a step further by perfecting the formula. From the obvious things such as the quality of the game’s audio and visuals to the nitty gritty of how everything works, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is in a place where it can only grow upward.
That isn’t to say that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is without flaws, as there are many things that players would like to see changed or fixed, but rather that this is the best starting point Nintendo has ever had and likely ever will with an Animal Crossing game. To create a new game and go through all the work of convincing players to buy it would be far more difficult than adding large content updates to the one everyone already has and enticing players to come back if they’ve left. This is the basis of the Games as a Service model.
Though it sounds great in theory, what would this actually look like for Animal Crossing: New Horizons? For starters, it would need to have periodic updates that are much bigger than the seasonal events that are in the game now. Paid DLC content for Animal Crossing: New Horizons that adds the capability for players to expand to new islands full of different NPCs, shops, items, and regions for example would be one thing it could do. Adding more end game content or taking the seasonal approach like in Destiny 2 would be another great way to keep things fresh.
Essentially, it would fall on Nintendo to constantly and consistently update Animal Crossing: New Horizons so that there’s always something for players to do in the game. Eventually, it may be that the game runs its course and a sequel is necessary, but that wouldn’t be for a very long time. The ground work has already been laid for a truly amazing and long-lived Animal Crossing game, it’s just up to Nintendo to capitalize on that by maintaining it in the years to come.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.
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