When Animal Crossing’s Next Game After New Horizons May Release

With Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ first and last paid DLC Happy Home Paradise finally launched, questions as to when the next game in the series may release have already arisen. New Horizons is still a fresh and popular game, but its second birthday is approaching sooner rather than later. Because of this, Animal Crossing players are consequently likely beginning to look at when Nintendo could release the next installment in the series.

The Animal Crossing series extends back 20 years when the first game, humbly called Animal Crossing, was released in Japan on the N64 in 2001. Since then, Nintendo has released four more main series installments on a mostly consistent basis. However, between 2012’s Animal Crossing: New Leaf and 2020’s New Horizons, this consistency was lost due to the launches of numerous spin-off titles such as Animal Crossing: Home Designer and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. As a result, determining the release date for the next main series game has become a lot trickier than it has been in the past.

Based on past trends in the Animal Crossing series, New Horizons’ sequel will most likely come out near the end of 2024. This year should be the most significant for Animal Crossing fans speculating about a new game after New Horizons, as a new release in 2024 would reintroduce the series’ regular launch cycle. However, fans should be beware that more recent trends suggest a new Animal Crossing game could come out as late as 2028.

Animal Crossing Releases New Games Every Four Years – Usually

2024 may be an optimistic prediction for the next Animal Crossing game’s release date, but it is probably the most likely. Nintendo released the first four games of the Animal Crossing series at a rate of one per every four years. Animal Crossing: City Folk followed Animal Crossing: Wild World even faster than that, coming out three years after its predecessor. A late 2024 to early 2025 release date for the next game would thus make a lot of sense, as it would follow the general pattern seen in the series’ past.

However, the wait for New Horizons’ sequel could extend up to eight years. This is due to two factors. The first is that the two most recent games in the Animal Crossing series – New Leaf and New Horizons – had an eight year gap between them, during which time Nintendo released spin-off titles. Considering that the Happy Home Paradise DLC adds so much to the New Horizons, Nintendo may repeat itself and make fans wait longer for another main series installment. The second factor is that the earlier titles had more reason to release quickly because they coincided with console launches. Animal Crossing on the N64 was released twice in the same year so that it could be played on the GameCube, Wild World came along with the launch of the Wii, and New Leaf was a considerably smaller game to make because it was on the smaller console of the 3DS. It follows that New Horizons‘ sequel may have to wait until Nintendo’s next console comes out, and with the recent release of the Switch OLED version, this may take awhile.

New Horizons is still a lively game with a dedicated fanbase, but Nintendo must know expectations for its sequel will soon come after making Happy Home Paradise New Horizon‘s last DLC. Hopefully this means that a 2024 or 2025 release may be on the horizon, but a 2028 launch date still lingers around as a haunting possibility. Nevertheless, fans of New Horizons can enjoy their islands for now.