Nintendo Updates Animal Crossing: New Horizons After 3 Years

Nintendo has surprised fans with the first update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons in nearly three years.

While not a major content update, the May 27 patch focuses on improving multiplayer compatibility between the Nintendo Switch and the newly released Nintendo Switch 2. This ensures seamless island visits between players on both systems, allowing for uninterrupted social gameplay experiences.

The update notes are brief, simply stating that compatibility improvements have been made for multiplayer sessions. Although specifics are limited, it's likely a technical adjustment to ensure smooth cross-play functionality as more players transition to the new hardware.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be playable on the Nintendo Switch 2, though it won’t receive a dedicated “Switch 2 Edition” like titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Fortunately, it should work without issues for those upgrading to the new console.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players can escape to a tranquil island paradise, where they build, explore, and customize their own unique world. The game remains a standout title in Nintendo’s library and continues to hold a place on our list of the [ttpp]Top 25 Best Nintendo Switch Games in 2025[/ttpp]. Our review praised the game as “an expanded, polished, next-generation reboot of a classic Nintendo game that's full of surprises,” awarding it a well-deserved score of 9.