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.

 

[Savont 2.0]

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

How about we relea-REDACTED FOR LAW Purposes

 

[Kristea]

I think it will stay the same, or decline truthfully. But not enough to ever HURT the series (because nothing ever really did. It's BEEN a stable series.)

I think the same people who fell in love with it during lockdown will continue to play new releases, but I doubt people will be rushing out in droves to pick it up the same way they did during lockdown. I don't see ACNH LOSING a lot of popularity though as it was obviously always popular enough for new releases for each system. I do agree it will likely see more popularity than New Leaf though, just given how many newer players found ACNH/the series through ACNH.

 

[CoolJhon]

I’ve seen some people on YouTube say stuff like “Who plays animal crossing in 2025 ” on videos of people playing it on switch 2, which worries me even more that a lot of casual players saw is as just a trend

 

[Kristea]

I’ve seen some people on YouTube say stuff like “Who plays animal crossing in 2025 ”

Not me reading this while actively playing ACNH and ACNL.

Listen, as someone who has been playing World of Warcraft since the game came out, I'm sooooo used to people screeching 'DEAD GAME!' all the time. You're always going to have those type of people. It's like they're done with the game, so they think everyone else should be too and despite the fact that people AREN'T, they refuse to acknowledge it because in their lil world, everyone should obviously be doing and playing whatever THEY are doing and playing. So try not to worry too much. <3 Basically it's just miserable people not understanding why someone finds joy in something.

 

[Bo Selecta]

Not unless we have another pandemic or similar and I doubt it. It will still be popular with fans tho.

 

[Ossiran]

I don't know if it'll hit New Horizon's numbers, but the next one will almost definitely be a top selling game depending on when it comes out and whether or not they do a bundle like they did for the Switch 1 and 3DS.

I think the next Animal Crossing will probably sell in the 20M range. Reaching NH's 48M is an extremely tall task. I won't say it for certain won't, but it would be an uphill battle. Given WW and NL were both in both in the 11M and 13M range respectively, 20M seems like a reasonable guess for the next game.

Again though, timing will be key for how well it does.

 

[Bad.faith]

Agreed with the points about timing and the hype being over, I don't see a new AC game selling more than NH. Also, a couple factors such as how many people are willing to buy a Switch 2 (if it's exclusive to the console) and how the online multiplayer is going to be handled. I don't think I would be compelled to buy it if it was a live service game or cost me hundreds just to play, because so far I don't want a Switch 2 at all. I have a lot of nice, older games and consoles already, and other people are probably in a similar boat, where buying the newest thing isn't really needed to enjoy Animal Crossing.

I'm a marketing school dropout, so I think about the factors that go into game sales a lot. I think good marketing for this is much more than a simple commercial. My ramblings about the marketing and the gameplay are below lol, I got off the rails with this...the caffeine on an empty stomach really got me wild lol:

Spoiler: 3 COFFEES NO LUNCH LONG RANT LOL

I think if Nintendo wanted to be smart about marketing this they would understand more general "Animal Crossing" merch with no affiliated game era is the way to go and will help keep the series in people's minds. The island style stuff feels a lot less charming and quirky imo. They would also remaster AT LEAST the Gamecube Version to play on virual console or just as a switch game (though this better not cost too much or it won't sell well), and this would push a bit more popularity between games. I actually love the idea of collabs to make special amiibo cards, and it's weird they only did that with Sanrio? NH can be something like a forever game if they kept up with stuff like this globally(obviously they didn't but I like to think what if), and even taking a chapter from live service games to make seasonal releases of items or villagers or even DIYs and stuff you could grow. I don't like live service things on principle...but it seems like a lot of games are going this way. It's a shame NH couldn't just be a game that gets updates and all kinds of newer and more fun things over time to really polish it, because I think it's got a lot of good ideas that are just kinda half-baked and a lovely visual style. The multiplayer failing to be nearly as fun out of the box as NL was, for example, just seems like an update or two away from being something millions dust off their neglected islands for. I don't like that everything has gone entirely digital for game companies to cut corners; but the potential of digital can mean that a game you buy can change and improve using feedback from the players, to become something still worth buying years later. Easily, the updates to Animal Crossing have been a great form of marketing to bring it back into the conversations of the fans. I think enthusiastic fans who get everything they want and then some (I am SOOO biased lol) are going to always sell best to non-fans because word of mouth will almost always work. Animal Crossing has potential to become Mario levels of huge because of it's iconic visual style, it's memorable iconography and sound, and by merit of being a world most people love to escape in. It's a great antidote to more violent games, it's family friendly without being childish or bland, and it's the kind of game a lot of people are willing to HANG OUT in, vs a game you comeplete and are done with. I'm seeing some rumor about the next game having a city element, which I think will cut off a lot of what makes this game feel like a fun and charming escape, but this may be more in tune with how impersonal and design-focused the newer AC games are. I think if the game really is like this, a lot of fans will opt out, some trend-hopping types might pick it up for a little while, and this game will be one of the lower points for Animal Crossing, sales-wise. I know the idea of letting people go full Minecraft and make their own decorated whatever probably appeals to Nintendo most right now, because this is what people make popular Youtube videos about and what brings a lot of younger people to wanting to play the game. It's a way to market the game when you know people will put their hard work on social media. Of course, this is going to alienate longtime fans. There's a chance that we get a game that rewards both play styles, but maybe we shouldn't bet on it...

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I've been wondering that about the next AC game. I hope it can reach at least the same level of popularity that New Leaf had.. not sure it will reach New Horizons level popularity though. Maybe that would be a good thing since NL got more attention than NH got