Popularity of Animal Crossing

[nightglow]

Do you think the next Animal Crossing game will cause Animal Crossing to become even more popular? Or not have an effect?

I know at the time of this posting, we know nothing of the next Animal Crossing (6) game. However, many more people are aware of the title of Animal Crossing and it's characters, because of New Horizons' success, than before 2020. Public familiarity makes the marketing to customers larger or more effective.

However some feel that down time and boredom of pandemic are the only reasons for familiarity or the 2020 popularity of Animal Crossing and it's characters, ultimately causing a fluke or false sense of Animal Crossing being popular.

I was under the impression that those who purchased and played the game enjoyed it.

How likely do you think New Horizon players will purchase the next Animal Crossing game?

 

[Suguri]

ACNH was released when people had to stay at home. It was way popular then because people needed a way to kill time and this game was it.

Almost five years have passed since it happened and we've since transitioned to normalcy. I think the next game will still be popular with how well-known Animal Crossing is now, but not as much as ACNH because I feel like some people tend to give in to a trend when everyone they know is into it, and then they drop it after a while. Example: slime used to be popular when I was a kid, and I used to enjoy making it because of the videos. Nowadays I've stopped, and I don't like touching slime anymore lol. But hey, you never know...

 

[DarthGohan1]

Animal Crossing was popular before New Horizons, but to expect it to get even more popular than the peak of ACNH... I think that's a lot to expect.

ACNH's launch was the perfect storm. Switch is one of, if not the, best-selling console of all time, so there's a massive player base to buy games. The pandemic had just hit, people were going crazy not knowing what to do at home, and Animal Crossing is the perfect game when you just need to chill out at home.

I think the next AC game will be popular, but probably not to the level of global takeover like ACNH.

 

[CoolJhon]

This is something I’m scared about. I wish I had more hope that the next game will get as big as New Horizons did, but without anything forcing people inside I don’t know if that will happen again to the same extent. It will probably be more popular than New Leaf was though

 

[ABlueRose]

Animal Crossing was popular before New Horizons, but to expect it to get even more popular than the peak of ACNH... I think that's a lot to expect.

ACNH's launch was the perfect storm. Switch is one of, if not the, best-selling console of all time, so there's a massive player base to buy games. The pandemic had just hit, people were going crazy not knowing what to do at home, and Animal Crossing is the perfect game when you just need to chill out at home.

I think the next AC game will be popular, but probably not to the level of global takeover like ACNH.

I agree! NH's launch seriously couldn't have been more perfect. Even if another pandemic hits when the next AC game comes out (which, HOPEFULLY NOT), I don't think it would be able to beat NH, just with how lined up everything ended up being.

This is something I’m scared about. I wish I had more hope that the next game will get as big as New Horizons did, but without anything forcing people inside I don’t know if that will happen again to the same extent. It will probably be more popular than New Leaf was though

I think the next AC game will definitely be super popular, even though it won't hit NH's level. AC already had a huge fanbase even before NH, so there will still be tons of people to enjoy it with online when it comes out!

 

[CoolJhon]

Yeah, NH also probably put the series on many people’s radar, including me. But for the more casual fans I worry they saw the game as just a trend that died after a few months.

Celebrities’ use of the game for promotion did not help. I feel it made the game seem more like a fad than a whole franchise to many

 

[Twiggy_Star]

This may come out as… Odd but… I’d hope the popularity comes naturally and not the result of something like the pandemic.

It is popular enough for the lego sets, which is cute and fun, you can mess around with characters and other sets and have Celeste ride a dinosaur, for example. So maybe that’ll spike up the audience. But yeah, I’d rather it be a gentle, not widely known game with a wholesome fanbase than a trendy trend-pants.

(I think smaller fanbases are actually more… Polite… than big ones, now I think about it. At least from my experience on a site that was based around a large franchise)

I think there are plenty of fans, they seem to be doing well with the advertising. it seems to be going strong. “Super popular” doesn’t mean it’s good. There are a lot of trash that is popular

 

[Croconaw]

I just found this thread, but I agree with Suguri. I think Animal Crossing’s popularity during the pandemic was higher because everyone was playing it and they needed a way to pass the time. The people playing it back then may not have as much free time now, or they just weren’t playing it as fans of the game but a way to pass the time.