And it’s certainly not what you think.
I know people are probably sick and tired of hearing about COVID-19 (and that I already talked about it in one my previous posts), but we all can agree it has significantly changed our lives, for better or worse. Whether you see the glass as half empty or half full is up to you, but it’s nice to try and take a moment to appreciate the good showing in dark times like these. (I also promise that this does relate to video games, you just gotta stick with me here.)
For me, like most other college students, I got an almost insufferably huge gain in the amount of free time I had, and was trying to get back into old hobbies that had fallen at the wayside of my busy student life. One of those was listening to podcasts, so I went on Spotify and put on one while I was cooking lunch at some point during quarantine. I didn’t think it was going to be anything remarkable – it was a podcast called The Besties, a video game review podcast hosted by four people who are currently working or have worked in the video game journalism industry. I had happened to pick the episode about the newest Animal Crossing, since that’s been what’s consuming 99% of my new found free time, but what they talked about besides their typical jokes and critiques really blew me away.
For those who don’t know, Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out on March 20th, just two weeks after the first confirmed US case of COVID-19 was announced. This date had been set in stone for a year or two since Nintendo had set it back for additional development, and of course no one back then could have ever predicted a pandemic consuming the world in such a short period of time. Fans had been waiting for this game since the previous mainline release in 2014, but in the entire six years of waiting for this game, no wait was more agonizing than the week leading up to its release. Fans were begging on twitter for an early release, mainly in response to most towns, states, and even countries beginning their descent into social distancing and lock down measures. The game still came out on time on the 20th however, and that’s when everything changed astronomically.
According to Justin McElroy of the Besties podcast, he mentioned that from early numbers being shown, Animal Crossing is predicted to sell 2.5 million units in Japan alone (which has been seemingly confirmed by the 1.88 million that’s already been sold). The game has been bigger than any Switch release so far, beating the former holder of the title, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, who was at 1.23 million units sold. Not only that, but there had been nearly 400,000 Nintendo Switch consoles sold (again in Japan alone) in last week of post-release, also outselling their all-time best selling console, the Wii. Even without complete numbers from other countries, it is assured that this game will be a massive hit around the globe, but when you look past the numbers of sales and people playing the game, you really begin to see the magic Animal Crossing has captivated our current world with.
For those unfamiliar with the series, in this version of the game you own a private island that you can decorate to your liking. You also have cute animal villagers as your neighbors, as well as other helpful NPCs that can guide you through tasks or help you with changes you want to make. There’s also a small airport on every island, allowing players who have purchased Nintendo’s online service to connect to the internet and fly to visit other players islands on their friend lists. There’s even a keyboard pop up to type out messages, and little emotes you can learn from your local villagers to express yourself in game. People in their time of isolation are now thriving with this game, with friends, couples, and families being reunited over long distances and quarantines with this amazingly adorable platform – even I’ve made some long lost connections myself.
In one case, I have a friend named Ike who I’ve known essentially forever. We’ve known each other since we were about 14 or 15 years old, and we used to always play Animal Crossing: New Leaf together almost constantly. Ike sadly lives in New Jersey, while I live in Texas, and we’ve always connected for our love of the game and messing around in our respective little towns. Once we both got to college we didn’t really talk much, up until recently when New Horizons was, well, on the horizon. We talked for the first time in years, and now we talk even more regularly and play together on our islands, as if nothing had changed at all. While the game has certainly evolved and improved significantly, it’s also brought one of the people I hold near and dear to my heart back into my life again.
Of course, you can just imagine, with this being one of the many reconnections I personally have made, just think about how many old reunions and even new friends this game has brought to the millions of active players stuck in their homes. And now, as Animal Crossing is fulfilling its fate to be a gigantic hit in the world’s most crucial time of need, Griffin McElroy (also of the Besties Podcast) seems to put it best; “I genuinely do think [Animal Crossing: New Horizons] is going to be a very sort of special game in the pantheon of all games ever made, just because of what it’s doing for us right now.”
So, go call your loved ones, text your friends, and try your best to reconnect with someone you may have lost touch with. You never know what amazing things could happen in a time like this.
Digi-Dive! 