Nintendo says it hasn’t forgotten Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will receive further free content later this year, Nintendo has said, thanking fans for their patience during a particularly dry spell for updates.

There are no details on how big these updates may be or what features they may contain. There is no word of Brewster. But, I suppose, it is something.

A small update arrives this Thursday, 29th July, meanwhile. This adds another smattering of seasonal items and brings back the game’s previous August fireworks.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched to stratospheric sales, and quickly became Nintendo Switch’s second-biggest game ever behind the evergreen Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of 31st March this year, it had shifted more than 32.63m copies.

But an early flurry of updates began to tail off around the end of last year, and recent months have seen only a few new pieces of furniture added to note the passing of public holidays.

The feeling of staleness has only grown as the game’s first anniversary passed with little fanfare, its event calendar began to repeat with barely any changes, and fans began to feel like the game had been abandoned.

In addition to these updates, more free content for #AnimalCrossing: New Horizons is currently in development for later this year. More information will be shared in the future, so please stay tuned. Thank you for your support and patience.

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 27, 2021

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“A free update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrives on 29th July,” Nintendo wrote on Twitter today. “Please ensure you have updated to the latest version to enjoy the upcoming weekly Fireworks shows and new seasonal items.

“In addition to these updates, more free content for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is currently in development for later this year. More information will be shared in the future, so please stay tuned. Thank you for your support and patience.”

New Horizons’ last major update was a while ago. After releasing in March 2020, the game added a wedding update in June, swimming in July, fireworks and dream islands in August and a big Halloween update at the end of September. November brought the long-awaited ability to transfer saves, more reactions and support for the game’s festive holiday shenanigans, and then in February this year we got warp pipes and some other Mario items. March brought a Hello Kitty crossover.

Fans are keen to see more features from the game’s popular 3DS incarnation New Leaf – and earlier – appear in New Horizons next, such as characters like Brewster the barista pigeon. There’s also still no sign of that froggy chair.