Animal Crossing: New Horizons Will Be Limited In A Big Way
The closer we get to the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the more we learn about what's on the horizon for this fresh adventure in the tropics. It's all been exciting news so far: building items, new neighbors, and those super cute Joy-Cons. Well, Nintendo drizzled on everyone's Animal Crossing parades by confirming there will only be one island per Switch.
This means that even if there are multiple users — think brother and sister sharing a Switch — only one island will spawn at a time. Homes with a single Switch console will have to share; unless you want to shell out another $60 for a second copy of New Horizons and then $300 more for a new Switch, that is.
Nintendo previously told us that, "Up to 8 players with registered accounts on a Nintendo Switch console can live on one shared island, and up to four residents of one island can play simultaneously on one console." That's a whole lot of sharing, but maybe that's the point: Nintendo wants us to play nice and share the island paradise with our friends and family.
The internet reacts
"Nintendo is the least subtle business ever," one not-so-thrilled fan tweeted after the news broke, adding, "dropping a cool new Switch design for Animal Crossing and then promptly following it up with 'you can only have one island per console regardless of how many game copies you have' is just screaming money making scheme."
"So I just learned something awful. You can only have one island per Switch with the new Animal Crossing?" said another. "I don't want to play the same file as my boyfriend, but I'd have to literally buy another Switch and not just another game for that? Guess I'm not going to buy it."
It's true that this news comes right on the heels of the announcement of the adorable New Horizons-themed Switch. This "one save per console" business is not going over near as well as those pastel Joy-Cons did.
People aren't happy, but we'll have to wait to see if this big limitation affects sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons when it releases on March 20.