Is ACNH dying?

[lolli8223]

It’s dying for me, I’m wanting more out of the game then just more items. Why am I still restricted to the second store upgrade over a year later? Is this really all its going to be?

I curious as to some of the decisions made in this game, no villagers visit you or asking you to visit them was a shocking omission. I miss it.

 

[Moritz]

New items are cool, and I'm glad there are people like you who are enjoying them and the new updates. Personally I just think Nintendo could be doing better, but like I said I'm happy there are people out there who are satisfied with ACNH as it is. I'm by no means trying to say that everyone must think the recent updates suck, but I'm just trying to explain why I think they suck (or why I think others think they suck), ya kno

Also for the record I do like this game lol, I just think that compared to all the other life/farming sims out there, ACNH had a lot of potential that the developers missed out on.

I still don't agree or get it.
But I should be nicer and not say anything is pathetic. I may think it, but I don't gain from saying it. I just get people upset.
And thats the exact opposite from what I want.

 

[sleepydreepy]

I still don't agree or get it.
But I should be nicer and not say anything is pathetic. I may think it, but I don't gain from saying it. I just get people upset.
And thats the exact opposite from what I want.

That's totally fine, I don't expect you to 100% agree with everything I'm saying. And I appreciate your efforts in trying to be nicer when talking about your opinions on ACNH.

 

[Red Cat]

Getting a few items here and there in updates is better than nothing at all, but if you're going to advertise 2-3 years of updates, people are going to expect something more substantive than just adding a few items and calling it a day. They should just do the updates quietly instead of trying to make a big deal out of it every time only to disappoint every time relative to expectations. I think it's a bit insulting to our intelligence for Nintendo to time lock seasonal content and then advertise it as an "update" every month.

 

[Moritz]

They should just do the updates quietly instead of trying to make a big deal out of it every time

The last 2 updates got no trailers or anything.
I think its fair to say it's less to do with nintendo and more the public

 

[Jeremy]

Hi everyone, let's please remember to share our opinions in a respectful manner without being too critical of people who don't share the same viewpoint. Here's a snippet from our previous Bell Tree Direct:

Some players may be very defensive about their love for the game and are sick of criticism after each update. Others may see the criticism as a chance for Nintendo to notice and make the changes they'd like to see. These are very different approaches, but we are all fans and should all try our hardest to understand where other people are coming from.

Please keep this in mind when discussing the game, no matter how strongly your views might be towards either side. Thanks!

 

[LambdaDelta]

acnh was never a living organism to begin with

 

[lemoncrossing]

It’s dying for me, I’m wanting more out of the game then just more items. Why am I still restricted to the second store upgrade over a year later? Is this really all its going to be?

I curious as to some of the decisions made in this game, no villagers visit you or asking you to visit them was a shocking omission. I miss it.

I feel this so much. It feels emptier than the previous AC games— while it’s got great items and customization, I’m still confused about why we can’t upgrade our shops. There’s pretty much no progress to be made after unlocking K.K., and it’s just kind of sad to see. I think that’s what drives people away... both old fans & new ones.

 

[peddleduck]

do wanna chime in and say i think it is dying to an extent, and a lot of it has to do with a lack of things to do [on top of the huge popularity]. i have friends that have played most of the games since childhood, and they've told me they've dropped acnh due it feeling unfinished in aspects. i think if you're into customization, it's still a great game, but otherwise, there isn't a lot to do. i'd be inclined to agree with them too since i've played acnl on and off for years, often putting hours into it, and there's a lot of stuff i still have to unlock/do [still haven't unlocked gracie lmao]. whereas acnh, i'm just bored. i hop on, check my villagers, pick up my island from weeds then get so underwhelmed i don't touch it for weeks.

i am holding out hopes that nintendo will do some big update eventually which is why i'm in the middle of collecting amiibo cards, but otherwise, i'll stick to pocket camp and new leaf.

 

[The Loyal Rat]

As others have said, the release of NH was HUGE and a lotta people played to start, and most games don’t keep the entirety of the main fanbase for long, especially one that rides the wave of being so popular in social media. If anything, I’d say NH has kept a pretty good amount of fans that will stay, way more then most games! The best part of AC is that it’s easy to come back to as well.

Heck, I’ve been part of the Bloodborne online activity since it came out and when it was a huge and massively popular game, but to this day the percentage of people who played the game who beat the first mandatory boss, Father Gascoigne, is 45.7 percent which is of course less then half. I’d say that’s maybe close to the amount of NH players who made it past the first KK Slider concert imo.

NH is super popular still, I think, at least compared to most games.

 

[S.J.]

I don't know about other AC games but I am still thoroughly invested in my ACNH island! I am nowhere near completion.

I think it helps that I try not to TT too far ahead or behind (a few days if I want to order from a catalogue), and I only use my own custom designs, never from other creators.

 

[meggiewes]

That problem? Monster Hunter Rise came out, lol.

I feel that! I've been on an ACNH break because of that too.

 

[Plainbluetees]

do wanna chime in and say i think it is dying to an extent, and a lot of it has to do with a lack of things to do [on top of the huge popularity]. i have friends that have played most of the games since childhood, and they've told me they've dropped acnh due it feeling unfinished in aspects. i think if you're into customization, it's still a great game, but otherwise, there isn't a lot to do. i'd be inclined to agree with them too since i've played acnl on and off for years, often putting hours into it, and there's a lot of stuff i still have to unlock/do [still haven't unlocked gracie lmao]. whereas acnh, i'm just bored. i hop on, check my villagers, pick up my island from weeds then get so underwhelmed i don't touch it for weeks.

i am holding out hopes that nintendo will do some big update eventually which is why i'm in the middle of collecting amiibo cards, but otherwise, i'll stick to pocket camp and new leaf.

I totally agree with this. I haven’t played NH in over a month... for some reason I just feel underwhelmed. Maybe because I have access to a bunch of resources on this website, but I feel like I don’t have anything to do. I don’t need to go buy stuff from Nooks, because there aren’t any new upgrades. I don’t need to visit Label because I already have 37 pairs of Labelle Socks. No need to gift stuff to villagers, I already have all of their photos and their dialogues are stale. For some reason I remember there was always something more to do in New Leaf. I always would have to check all the stores even if I already had everything, and since there were so many of them, it kept me playing longer.

Now, I definitely don’t think NH is dying. At this point, it’s a classic for the switch, up there with stuff like Mariokart and what not. While the content might be getting a little stale, especially for some long-time Animal Crossing players, I don’t think the game is dead and is still really popular with a lot of folks.

 

[helloxcutiee]

The new neighbor network is dead. I've never seen so many popular villagers constantly get voided I have Marshal in boxes now but I completely stopped posting when I have a villager in boxes because I know no one will respond anyway. I definitely think the game has lost the hype but it's in no means dead. Sure, there are a ton of players who picked up the game because of the pandemic who probably already stopped playing but there's also a ton of fans of the series who still play consistently myself included.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I did a lot of thinking and I think I may figure out why the game is not being played as much these days. It has to do with Burnout, The fact that people time traveled too much (which I am not against the idea and I respect people who do it), and of course probably the most obvious one, the lack of content aka the stuff to do even if you completed your island and museum.

My friend who had their island since last year just restarted and she told me that really wanted to play this game again because she just felt so bored with it and wanted to get that charm back inside. I respect that decision. However, I have to ask this question. How long can we keep going on with the whole designing? I say this because everything when we complete our islands we just feel "done" with it. So in order to keep craving for more we just keep tearing down our islands or restarting just to keep going.

To me I feel like that is just unhealthy. People should not be stressing too much about their islands so much and there has been so much comparisons to others islands that people just feel so burned out on even trying to make their island so good. When I stopped time traveling I now know that this game was meant to played at a slow paced and its my fault for rushing through the game so much. Thats when it hit me. The game was being played a lot in the beginning due to the pandemic and because its been over a year, people have moved on to different things so its not as popular as it were before.

Now let me just be clear on this, New Horizons is game that really saved everyone during the pandemic. The problem is that because people have completed their island and done so much in the game that they feel so burned out that they have no reason to keep playing it, because of the lack of "new" things to do in the game afterwards. Like others said its very rare to see a game being last this long and being talked about to this day, but as like with any other game it will start to die out when there is less people playing and not much new stuff being added. Thats the reality of this situation. I'm sure in the future the game will become better, but when exactly? We don't know.

 

[mermaidshelf]

I don't think it's dying but basically the only ones I know who still play were Animal Crossing fans from before New Horizons came out which is fine because that's kind of what I expected to happen. I never thought this would be one of Nintendo's best selling games of all time but the pandemic and hype and the overall larger userbase of the Switch made it possible. I know a lot of people who played ACNL everyday who no longer play NH because they're disappointed in the game. One of my favorite game Youtubers stopped streaming and playing altogether, despite NL being one of his all time favorite games. I do wish that there were more features that we got from previous games like gyroids and villagers visiting your house or asking to visit them. After a year and we still don't even have those key features from previous titles that make me, as a long time AC fan, sad.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

No, it's not dying. It's probably not as active/popular as it was a year ago, but I think it still has a strong player base and I think that big updates in the future will bring a lot of people back.

 

[Kattea]

I’m the only one out of all my irl friends that still plays ACNH, so I'm really glad I found the forums. I think the people who only started playing for the hype are long gone. Those of us left make up the true fanbase, and I think that's why many are very strongly opinionated about the game, one way or the other. Personally, the game will be keeping me entertained for a long time. I'm only done about 20% done my island and I think that's because I pace myself and don't play if I'm feeling uninspired. I can really see myself being invested in the game for several more years.

 

[Junalt]

No it’s not dying. The discord is still very active and you can usually find items you want from Nookazon/Discord easily which is amazing for a game that’s more than a year old and largely single player. A lot of people dropped off NL and previous AC games after a year or even just a few months too, it’s really nothing new at all, just the nature of the game.

 

[Jaco]

It's not dead or dying. The crazy quarantine hype is gone but it was unrealistic to expect that to last.

There's still a huge player base, especially for a single-player game, and the updates generate a burst of player interest (I can even measure it by a large jump in dreamers the days after a big update, like the Anniversary update). I get that some of us, hundreds or even thousands of hours into the game, are running out of things to do but I'm still optimistic that Nintendo has big future plans for the game, especially given how nuts New Horizon's sales were.