Summary
With rumors surrounding the successor to the Nintendo Switch heating up, speculation as to what titles could potentially launch with the system is also rampant, and a sequel toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis among the speculated. TheSwitch 2will reportedly include a handful of technological improvements including NVIDIA’s DLSS 3.5 AI-powered Ray Reconstruction which could be a sign that Nintendo is seriously upgrading their next console’s hardware. If these reports are true, the Switch 2 could be in a great position to take theAnimal Crossingseries to the next level in one key way.
AlthoughAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswas a massive success and helped the series reach a wide audience of new players, many longtime fans had their fair share of criticisms. One major issue players had was with the game’s multiplayer features and online connectivity which were very limited and convoluted to access. The Switch 2 is likely to get a newAnimal Crossinggame after the success ofNew Horizons, and this next entry could finally be the series' first MMO depending on the capabilities of Nintendo’s next console.
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What an Animal Crossing MMO Could Look Like on the Switch 2
Nintendo has never been the best when it comes to the quality of its online multiplayer services, but it has been improving over the Switch’s life. Ifrumors about the Switch 2’s power are true, this trend puts the console in a great position to support an MMO similar to a game likeFinal Fantasy 14on the PlayStation 4 and 5. Nintendo already has the perfect franchise to use as the basis for an MMO inAnimal Crossing, andAnimal Crossing: New Horizonspaved the way for anAnimal CrossingMMO on the Switch’s successor to be a huge hit.
AnAnimal CrossingMMO could take some cues fromgames likeRustorFallout 76and allow players to build their towns independently of each other on the same server. This type of game would likely need to be open world to allow multiple players to build towns on the same server, and towns would probably have to be gated off by loading screens to improve performance and prevent griefing. Even with this design, anAnimal CrossingMMO facilitates some of the most robust multiplayer gameplay the series has ever seen and allowsAnimal Crossingto become a true social experience.
Even without becoming a full-blown MMO, the Switch 2 could allow the nextAnimal Crossingto adopt MMO-like elements similar to a game likeDiablo 4. The game could still keep the open-world formula, but rather than sharing a server with other players who are also building their towns, the game could allow players to come across others while out and about in the world with the option to link up for town visits orco-op play similar to a game likePalia. A game like this could even have an in-game system for item trading similar to the fan-made Nookazon app that allowed players to connect and trade inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.
With the way theAnimal Crossingserieshas grown in recent years, it seems like the next logical step would be for the series to dip its toes into the MMO genre.Animal Crossing: New Horizonsadded a lot of features that laid the groundwork for a more robust online play system, but never fully fleshed them out. As Nintendo’s definitive life sim franchise,Animal Crossingis well suited to adopt features of similar MMO and MMO-like games with its next entry, and the hardware of the Switch 2 could be just what the series needs forAnimal Crossingto make this jump.
