Surprise! Nintendo's Just Updated Animal Crossing: New Horizons For the First Time in 3 Years

Surprise! Nintendo has conscionable released Animal Crossing: New Horizons' archetypal update successful astir 3 years.

It's not a peculiarly breathtaking update — the spot notes lone archer america that May 27's update "improved the compatibility for multiplayer sessions betwixt Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch" — but it marks the archetypal clip the relaxing sim crippled has had an immoderate benignant of backend refresh since November 2022.

What "improved compatibility" means, we're not wholly sure, but it's apt a tiny tweak to marque definite players jumping onto Animal Crossing: New Horizons connected Switch 2 tin inactive sojourn the islands of their friends without incidental and vice-versa.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons volition beryllium playable connected Switch 2, but dissimilar games similar The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom oregon Kirby and the Forgotten Land, it's not getting its ain bespoke Switch 2 Edition. It should beryllium compatible for players getting a Switch 2 adjacent week, nevertheless — dissimilar these games that are known to person issues.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you flight to a deserted land and make your ain paradise arsenic you explore, create, and customize your ain backstage land and community. We loved our clip with it, and it's inactive listed connected our Top 25 Best Nintendo Switch Games successful 2025 list. In our review, we awarded it a 9, writing: "Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an expanded, polished, next-generation reboot of a classical Nintendo crippled that's afloat of surprises."

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.