4 Years On: How Animal Crossing Became a Social Phenomenon in a Global Pandemic

It has been 4 years since Animal Crossing New Horizons released on Switch and let’s be honest gamers, we’ve been through a lot since then. While Animal Crossing is almost a staple in most Switch player’s libraries, it’s actually wild to look back on how that came to be. There are so many circumstances and coincidences that I believe led to Animal Crossing becoming so much bigger than anyone thought. How did Animal Crossing flourish during the pandemic? For us Australians, Animal Crossing was released in the same week The Ruby Princess docked in Sydney, which subsequently ushered in the height of Covid-19’s Wave 1 on our shores. We faced snap lockdowns, social distancing, and many hardships as did many other countries. For a while, we were separated from friends and families, unable to walk within 1.5 meters of anybody. Our new normal became isolation, but in a time of social distancing, Animal Crossing brought people together and provided comfort to millions. Four years on, let’s take a look at how and why Animal Crossing became a social phenomenon during the pandemic.

I want to extend a special thank you to Archie Blunn for assisting with my research on this topic.

While it was a carefree time for most Australians, with Switch Gamers enjoying Luigi’s Mansion 3 and enjoying a warm summer, there were faint whispers of a new flu strain or mysterious illness spreading on the news, with many analysts suggesting ground zero was Wuhan, China. Most of these reports were just heard in passing, dismissed as something that bared no impact on Australians, and not given much thought. As we ushered into the new year, the whispers grew louder, but Australia wouldn’t take much notice until the end of January. Personally, I was looking forward to the imminent release of Animal Crossing, after its initial delay of its original release date in November. No one knew at the time that a perfect storm was brewing and 6 weeks on from Animal Crossing’s Release date, we would see a world forever changed.

Animal crossing was initially slated for November 2019 and was delayed until March 21, with Nintendo President Doug Bowser telling IGN a the time the delay was to protect the dev team from dev crunch to make the deadline “The crunch point is an interesting one. For us, one of our key tenets is that we bring smiles to people’s faces, and we talk about that all the time. It’s our vision. Or our mission, I should say. For us, that applies to our own employees. We need to make sure that our employees have good work-life balance.” Bowser stated. This delay initially saw Nintendo take a hit to stocks but would ultimately be equivalent to catching lightning in a bottle, just no one realised it yet. One day before Animal Crossings release, the cruise ship “Ruby Princess” docked in Sydney, discharging her 2700 passengers after a 10-day cruise to New Zealand with many passengers unknowingly carrying the Covid-19 virus. It would later be revealed that nearly all of the passengers had no idea there were active cases on the ship (Source – The Guardian) The next day, March 20, 2020, Nintendo Switch gamers, largely unaware of the impact the Ruby Princess would have on their lives, celebrated the release of Animal Crossing.

By the end of April, Covid tightened its grip on Australia (and the world) as the remaining state borders were closed to prevent the spread, families were cruelly separated by distance and state lines, with laws preventing people from traveling more than a few kilometers. Police were asked to enforce curfew orders and our worlds began to shrink, creating a sense of isolation. I recall watching families talk to each other at the border, separated by concrete barriers, desperate to check on their loved ones. The global pandemic was in full effect now. COVID had spread everywhere, and most Australians settled into a routine of working remotely, only leaving the house for supplies or to check on loved ones. Everything seemed bleak, but there was an unexpected shining light in the form of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Animal Crossing New Horizons was a complete counterpart to the real world during COVID. It was bright, bubbly, and social, encouraging players to build a community in a time of isolation. Its intuitive and user-friendly gameplay, meant anyone could pick it up and play and it introduced a new audience to gaming. Animal Crossing became the “next big thing” so to speak, and its popularity skyrocketed. Players became absorbed in the bright and colorful world where they could be free to do as they please; visit friends’ islands, collect furniture, and spend their days in a tropical paradise. There’s a sense of freedom where you can do both nothing and everything and still enjoy yourself. You could collect fish, bugs, and fossils for the museum, or spend your days decorating houses, furniture, and clothes. It appealed to people of all ages and had a social aspect to it that people were starting to miss in real life amidst the lockdowns.

In a time of suppression, Animal Crossing nurtured expression and while Australia was adopting our Zero Cases Suppression strategy, Animal Crossing New Horizons encouraged players to express themselves by designing patterns and clothing to share amongst friends. Savvy marketers caught wind of this and created Islands that gamers could visit, with big brands like KFC in the Philippines participating. None of these Islands were officially partnered with Nintendo, but these in-game marketing opportunities cemented Animal Crossing New Horizons’ popularity and boosted sales.  Social Media further contributed to word-of-mouth recommendations with many celebrities posting screenshots of designs and accomplishments on the game. Again, most of these were not paid partnerships with Nintendo, just people enjoying the game and creating an unofficial whisper campaign across social media.

These whisper campaigns grew into Social Media groups popping up and encouraging players to share items or show off creations that created a sense of community while being isolated. New friendships were formed over sharing island designs or helping others complete a set of furniture and Animal Crossing and these friendships weren’t hindered by the grounding of airlines or lockdowns. The larger these groups grew, the louder the whisper campaign became, and it grew into a monster of its own fuelling New Horizons’ skyrocketing sales.

Animal Crossing New Horizons was already seeing huge successes on launch, with an estimated 11.77 Million copies within 12 days of launch (Source – Nintendo) beating the previous record set by Pokemon Sword and Shield, and outpacing Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and breaking the record for most Digital Copies sold of a Video Game… EVER. (Source – SuperData Research)  Animal Crossing New Horizons’ initial success could be attributed to its existing fans, hardware install base, and it’s accessibility appealing to gamers of all ages, but then it reached further beyond that, shifting 12 million Nintendo Switch Units in a 6 month period from its launch, tripling Nintendo’s profits (Source – Business Insider)

The Pandemic pushed spend on Digital Entertainment up by 66% worldwide in an unforeseen knock-on effect (Source – J. Clement, Statistica) and 6 months after release, Nintendo reported that had sold a total of 26.4 Million copies by September (Source – Nintendo.) Doom Eternal also saw success launching on the same day as Animal Crossing, with Nintendo and Bethesda entertaining artist crossover illustrations on Social Media, but even a multiplatform game like Doom Eternal could not keep up with Animal Crossing’s unique appeal and sustained pace. As of November 2023, Animal Crossings Lifetime Sales had hit a phenomenal 43.38 Million units. (Source – J. Clement, Statistica)

What does the future hold for Animal Crossing? Nintendo has consistently published a mainline Animal Crossing Game on every platform (with the exception of the Wii U) so it’s safe to say after the success of New Horizons, we will be seeing another entry on the Switch Successor in the future. Development has come to an end on the Nintendo Switch version of Animal Crossing, so we won’t see further content updates in the future, but despite this, Animal Crossing still maintains its popularity with a healthy player base and active communities across social media.

Is it fair to say Animal Crossing New Horizons was only successful during the pandemic? Absolutely not, but it certainly helped. Animal Crossing had something rather unique, and while many amazing games were released around the same time, nothing brought people together quite like Animal Crossing. In a time of social distancing and isolation, Animal Crossing New Horizons managed to transcend from being a simple user-friendly game to a social phenomenon, building communities Covid couldn’t tear down, and connecting people separated by distance and isolation.

So here’s to Animal Crossing New Horizons on its 4th Birthday. We didn’t get the Island getaway from the hustle and bustle that Tom Nook promised us, instead, we got something much, much more…