Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a 2020 social simulation game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth main installment in the Animal Crossing series, following Animal Crossing: New Leaf. In New Horizons, the player controls a character who moves to a deserted island after purchasing a getaway package from Tom Nook, accomplishes assigned tasks, and develops the island as they choose. They can gather and craft items, customize the island, and develop it into a community of anthropomorphic animals. Development of New Horizons began in 2012, following the release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The game director, Aya Kyogoku, retained content from previous games to keep fans happy and also ensured that the game was simple enough to appeal to newcomers. With art and graphics, the developers used the concept of "trigger of play" and the "imagination gap", where the former kept the gameplay simplistic and easy to pick up while the latter kept the art style simple for the player to imagine the rest. The game was announced during a Nintendo Direct in September 2018 and after an extended development period, was released worldwide on March 20, 2020. New Horizons received acclaim from critics, who praised its gameplay and customization options, although its subsequent updates were given mixed response. The game was nominated for over a dozen awards and was a major commercial success, selling over 50 million copies worldwide and breaking the console game record for most digital units sold in a single month. It has since been considered one of the greatest games of all time, and is the best-selling game in the Animal Crossing series, the second best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch, the best-selling game of all time in Japan, and the 12th best-selling video game in history. Its commercial success has been attributed in part to its release amid global stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 — Animal Crossing: New Horizons · retrieved October 19, 2026

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Developer

Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Publisher

Nintendo

First release

March 20, 2020

Series

Animal Crossing

Cover

Official thumbnail

Record ID

Q64566657