January 15 Will Be a Big Day for Animal Crossing Fans

Animal Crossing: New Horizons' highly anticipated 3.0 update is coming soon, and players have plenty to look forward to once it arrives on January 15. Coming on the same day that Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases on Nintendo Switch 2, the 3.0 update will bring in new island residents, gameplay features, and much more.
It's been close to six years since the latest console-based mainline game in the Animal Crossing franchise first debuted on the Nintendo Switch. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a massive hit during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and its first couple of years or so were filled with regular updates that kept players interested even when they weren't quarantined inside their homes anymore. Many players expected that after the 2.0 update was released early in November 2021, the game wouldn't be seeing any more major content drops, but they're soon to be proven wrong.
First up, January 15 will mark the first day that Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Switch 2 version becomes available, and a few special features will be included that may make longtime players want to upgrade from the original Switch version. Aside from improved visual performance and faster loading times, the Switch 2 version will be able to support up to 12 players at a time in multiplayer mode. It will also take advantage of the system hardware upgrades over the original Switch, letting players use the Joy-Con mouse controls for a greater degree of control when decorating their homes and islands, and bringing in a new Megaphone tool that players can use to call villagers to them with the console's onboard microphone.
While the Switch 2 features are nice, there should still be plenty of new content for players to enjoy in either the Switch or Switch 2 versions of the update. It may seem to outsiders like a simple quality-of-life feature, but the ability to craft multiple objects in Animal Crossing: New Horizons at once has been one of the most requested features for years, and it will finally arrive in the 3.0 update. Along with that feature, storage space is getting a big boost, with its previous limit of 5,000 items increasing to 9,000. That will be particularly helpful, considering that objects like trees and flowers will be able to be stored for the first time, giving players some extra protection for the rare flora that they've managed to cultivate in-game.
Quality-of-life features aside, the bright and flashy parts of the 3.0 update include the addition of some new facilities, including room to build. These include a hotel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons run by Kapp'n and his family, which will see a bunch of villagers showing up for a visit and will task players with designing the perfect hotel rooms for them. Doing so will earn them tickets that can be exchanged in the Hotel Gift Shop, which will feature items not available for purchase anywhere else in the game. Additionally, laying down in bed will give players the option to visit Slumber Island, where they can not only decorate but set the season and time of day for an even more customizable experience.
Fans can also expect some crossover content with other Nintendo franchises and even LEGO. Brick-themed furniture and clothing items will be coming to the game alongside special items designed to reflect the in-game universes of The Legend and Zelda and Splatoon, and some new, original villagers based on both game series will be making visits to players' islands, particularly if players have the right Amiibo. Additionally, players will be able to get some classic collectible items that allow them to play a variety of classic NES and Game Boy games, though a Nintendo Switch Online subscription will be required to use these services.
The 3.0 update was a very unexpected one for the fan base, many of whom had been anticipating the announcement of a new Animal Crossing game in 2025. With New Horizons getting an extended lifeline in 2026, it's not clear how much longer Nintendo will hold out before releasing a brand-new game. While fans have requested multiple things they'd like to see in the next game, from larger villages to more in-depth relationship building with villagers, the number of features packed into the 3.0 update make it seem like the next game is probably still at least a couple of years away.