This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

We’re a few days into Animal Crossing: New Horizons now and I think it’s safe to say it’s been worth the wait. As it turns out, that wait has been longer than we may have realised.

Speaking to the Washington Post, the game’s Director Aya Kyogoku and Producer Hisashi Nogami revealed that it’s actually been in development since New Leaf wrapped up all the way back in 2012. The Nintendo Switch wasn’t even a concept back then - in fact the Wii U had only just launched itself!

The crafting mechanic - along with terraforming - are the big new additions to the series, and Kyogoku saw those abilities as a way of adding greater customisation, as well as things to do around the clock:

“Because the Animal Crossing series is tied to the real-time clock, there are users who want to play late at night or who want to play early in the morning. By giving those users an option to craft, we thought this would be a new way for them to play and to acquire items.
Some may have thought that, ‘Oh, this would have been a perfect layout if there was a river here or if the river wasn’t there. Well, for users like that, we were able to give them what they weren’t able to achieve before.”

Another change is that events such as Bunny Day around Easter and Toy Day at Christmas will now be delivered via updates, rather than baked into the game itself. The first Bunny Day update has already been pushed out, but the team are monitoring the coronavirus situation for any impact it could have on the timing of those events.

“We’re not sure if we have to shift anything, but I think we have to be flexible” says Kyogoku, with Nogami reiterating that “in terms of the development team, I do have to think about their health and well-being as well.”

Finally, a point of contention amongst players is whether time-travelling - adjusting the Switch’s internal clock to advance through the game more quickly - is a legitimate way of playing or not. On that point Kyogoku said:

“Adding all the seasonal events by updates wasn’t our way to shun away time travel by any means. But Animal Crossing is a game that users are able to play and enjoy throughout the year.”

With Nogami adding:

“We think that in order for the players to play for a very long time, and also for players to share the experience with their friends or family, we do think that playing without [time] travelling would probably be the ideal way.”

Let us know down in the comments if you’re a time traveller. In Animal Crossing we mean, not in real life. Actually, if you’re a real-life time traveller definitely leave a comment - we may have a few questions for you.

Source: Washinton Post