Animal Crossing: New Horizons is 5. So, uh… when’s the next?

It’s been exactly five years since Nintendo released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the best-selling Animal Crossing game in Nintendo’s history. In fact, it’s one of the Nintendo Switch’s most popular games ever, too, having sold nearly 48 million copies. It’s no wonder that people are already thinking about what’s next for the franchise, especially given the upcoming release of Nintendo’s next generation console.

Nintendo hasn’t said a thing about the future of the franchise, aside from the closure of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and the release of its Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete version. New Horizons hasn’t gotten a major update since 2021 and the Happy Home Paradise DLC and its subsequent free update. Events continue, and smaller updates were released later, but otherwise, there’s been little or no new content to show.

We can look back to Nintendo’s release schedule for the franchise for guidance. The first Animal Crossing was released in 2001, followed up by Animal Crossing: Wild World in 2005 — a five year gap. Animal Crossing: City Folk came later, in 2008. After City Folk, Animal Crossing: New Leaf was released in 2012 — again, five years. New Leaf and New Horizons have the biggest gap of 8 years, from 2012 to 2020 when New Horizons was released. Notably, New Horizons debuted several years into the Nintendo Switch’s lifespan. It makes sense that timing between games would increase as technology becomes more complex and games become bigger, but I think it’s unlikely we’ll see a gap that big between New Horizons and whatever is next.

Nintendo has its Switch 2 presentation set for April 2, and early Animal Crossing fans are hoping there’s a mention of Animal Crossing at the event. I would be surprised; the focus of the event is the console itself — and a new Animal Crossing game would likely overshadow so much of it all. If anything, maybe a small teaser with Tom Nook wondering about his next business venture.