Animal Crossing: New Horizons Getting Switch 2 Edition and Free Content Update

Just $5 for the Switch 2 upgrade plus free content for both versions. This seems like a very smart business move for Nintendo. Animal Crossing is now one of their core IPs behind Mario, Mario Kart, Pokémon and Zelda.

Do you think we'll get a brand-new mainline Animal Crossing game on Switch 2?  

This is simultaneously great and terrible news — great because the free expansion adds a lot of content and quality-of-life fixes but terrible because I was secretly hoping for a new Animal Crossing in spring of 2026.

Now, I think spring 2028 is more likely. I truly hope Nintendo doesn’t use New Horizons as the mainline AC for Switch 2. I need a new game in my life, preferably one that leans more toward life simulation and away from designing/decorating.

Sadly I think the designing/decorating is what the market seems to want out of AC. My wife loves to just randomly redecorate lots of houses and scenes in the game. I thi k she has like 2000 hours in the game just from that.

I think you're right. My wife loves the decorating/design piece of the game. I think she spent as much time on Happy Home Paradise as the base game. 

I gave up hope for Spring 2026 after the September Direct came and went. There's not a rigid pattern for unveilings of Animal Crossing or Nintendo games in general, but a March-May release would be strange to not announce before Halloween. Before this announcement, I figured June 2026 was the earliest launch date, and I thought 2027 to be honest was looking more likely. 

There was never any hope for AC in Spring 2026, it's a game that is huge in terms of content because that are so many items, dialogues and animals to design and develop that I think it's right now the 2nd longest Nintendo IP to develop

But we for sure are getting a new AC this generation. If they had intention to keep milking current AC we would have got new (paid) updates regularly. This one is selling for a mere 5 USD and that are even some free updates. They just wanted to give people some incentive to keep playing it on Switch 2 to increase the hardware's value

Considering New Horizons was out only 3 years after Switch 1 launch, 2028 to 2029 looks doable for a new Animal Crossing

I'm a little bit disappointed since this means the next entry isn't coming anytime soon but on the other hand it's really cool to get some new stuff. And five bucks to upgrade isn't bad at all.

I voted cross gen with Switch 2's successor, but really I think it's going to launch a few years before Switch 3, but developed with an important Switch 3 upgrade in mind to make it both a Switch 2 game and a major Switch 3 launch. I'm mostly considering the massive amount of work that will have to go into a game bigger and better than NH... It must be somewhere in the 8 to 11 year range (NH was in development for 7.5 years)... and it's not just the development phase, the game will be design and polish heavy.

So, 2028 to 2031 is when I'm predicting. If Switch 2 launches before the end of 31, then it'll be a dual-generation, but I don't think that's going to be the case given what went down with Switch 1.

They'd be out of their minds not to, AC was one of the biggest system sellers Switch 1 ever got, millions of people would run out and buy a Switch 2 for a brand new one.

Conversely, I don't see anybody buying a $450 system to play a Switch 1 game in 4K.

Nintendo doing all these cross gen titles from last gen is actually a really smart move. All their big titles will hit the NS2, but will be spaced out over the course of 7ish years. SSB, AC, SM3D, SM2D, Zelda 3d/2D etc we should expect all to come. In-between all of this it seems like Nintendo wants to update content for their bigger last gen releases which doesn't cost much for them to do, and keeps those entries active a little while longer while people wait.

As for the pricing, $5 is fantastic, and really deflates alot of negative stigma Nintendo got about pricing early on. It seems to be that Nintendo is adjusting to the market faster. Maybe even BoTW and TotK NS2 version will get a price drop more inline with what the market is willing to pay.