Video: Heartwarming Animal Crossing: New Horizons Trailer Shows How The Game Brings Friends Together

Nintendo acknowledging Animal Crossings gay audience for once. Good for them

@Crockin You've got a pretty vivid imagination to watch the promotional video and claim that there were gays on it. Having the same, vivid imagination, I swear I saw a unicorn flying through a rainbow in that same video, too.

@Cosats not a stretch, get real

@Cosats referring to same sex couples as "gays" or "the gays" is pretty homophobic my dude.

I'll play Animal Crossing. It's just too bad that I won't have any real life friends to share it with.

@LunarLunatone Internet friendships can be just as meaningful I'm sure plenty of people on this website would be happy to enjoy some island time with you.

This did not warm my heart one bit. The post title is misleading.

@mist that is likely due to your heteronormative indoctrination

I'm gay and i definitely thought that's an ad targeted at the queer community. I don't think that it needs a "vivid imagination" as @Cosats claims. Funny how some people instantly get defensive as soon as someone mentions queer people in videogames.

@notahuman its truly mind boggling how it actually makes people mad. I think the fact that Nintendo is kind of starting to peek out it's head and acknowledge that a good portion of their audience is LGBTQ or even women (gasp!) is a big step in the right direction. Up until the last few years or so, the in game depictions tended to be more like cruel jokes

@Crockin @notahuman As a straight white guy who appreciates attractive women and is always looking for hints of relationships between them, I saw none in that video. I saw so none of it that after reading the comments I went back to watch it again, and nope, not 1 single thing gave me any thought of it, even trying to imagine it were it wasn't. No physical contact between the 4 girls at all, no winks, blown kisses, flirtation, hearts, nothing.

Now I'm not gay so I'm probably not aware of all the imagery, but if their attempt w/ that ad is to promote some type of gay agenda to hetero folk I'd fire them, they missed. The kid on the Apple laptop famous for saying "What's a computer?" does a better job, by themselves.

That ad is promoting "gay" as much as "women drink free" night at a bar is promoting women's equality.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice ad, women in sports, friends supporting their athlete friend, but if the friend who made that picture has a crush on her athlete friend shes' doing a horrible job of showing it. Best friends supporting each other, thats all I saw watching it twice looking for a reason to see more.

@rjejr don't even get me started on you. you're on another planet

@Crockin My own little world, my own little planet, the one w/ intelligent life on it. You stick around this place long enough you'll realize intelligent life on this planet is difficult to come by. 5 months, you've just landed.

Reposting this here from the other article b/c the multiplayer is more on point. And I prefer the off-topic gay conversation over the off-topic woke one.

Anybody think there's any chance of this game actually getting something to do along the lines of minigames found in Mario Party or something?

My kids and I were discussing the 4 player coach co-op yesterday and while it would be cool to all play together there really isn't anything to "play" in AC is there? I think ACNL got the island survival game from AC:aF in the "Welcome amiibo" update. We own AC:aF but we never played it enough to actually unlock that island b/c AC:aF is a stupid broken mess. Btu at least it was a game. Would be nice if they imported a similar smaller scale lame board game into ACNH. They let you travel to islands on the plane, every island could be it's own minigame. Not asking for COD or GTA, just a hill for all the characters to roll down, see who gets to the bottom first, winner gets some bells. That seems like something they would do in that game world.

@rjejr not everything has to be that in-your-face obvious omg. i get that this whole video is up for interpretation but you dont have to be so dismissive about people seeing it as a gay thing

@Santa Learn to read messages better. My response is anything but homophobic. Thank you very much.

@Cosats you’re welcome!

@ShadowSmile there are lots of forums with people that are willing to play the game with someone! Remember back in the prime of New Leaf I went into Google+ and played with some users. Good times.

I thought it was the same girl lol with all the different color switch lite's.

Having lived in Japan for over 10 years and went to a university there, I felt this video displayed typical behavior of some young Japanese women. It’s quite innocent and neutral with zero sexual orientation references, in my opinion. Just busy girls missing the connections of friends and finding joy of being able to connect conveniently through a switch game. It was a nice ad!

@notahuman I agree; seems like a lot of their promotional material has been more aligned with the queer community (with character designs and whatnot). Makes sense too, I feel like there is a large overlap with the two communities

@rjejr I'm not sure if they mentioned much about mini games yet but it would be nice. Maybe they could be included as part of the seasonal updates.

@boxyguy I wasn't dismissive about OTHER people seeing it as "a gay thing" as you say, ok maybe it came across that way, I was pointing out that I didn't, and I was trying to see it, so it wasn't obvious, and maybe it wasn't even there and they were seeing something they wanted to see.

If people say they see "gay" in it, or gay propaganda, or promoting gay, depending on their point of view, then they should be able to point out what they are seeing to those of us who can't w/o being so dismissive (your word) of those of us who can't.

I suppose there are 2 ways to see this as "gay", promoting it or secret high five no one can see but it's a hidden message, which if it's that hidden it really isn't promoting it now is it? If only gay people know it's gay, then Nintneod isn't promoting gay to the world, they're actually promoting the "gay is taboo so it must be hidden" point of view. If Nintneod wants to tell the world gay is ok then people have to know that is what they are saying, and I tried really hard to see it, but I can't. If the message can only be seen by gay people then Ntinedo is saying gay isn't ok, they're saying gay is ok if you stay in the closet where society wants you.

And if you are going to say other people are allowed to see gay but I'm not allowed not to see it isn't that a bit hypocritical? Other people are allowed to see what they want but I'm not?

I'd be more than happy to see gay in it, I'd enjoy seeing gay in it, but I don't. So I said so. I'm open to any and all people explaining to me what I missed. I'm always up for a learning experience.

@alpacatears Seasonal updates would be nice. This game isn't meant for non-stop couch co-op, it isn't Diablo, but once in awhile it would be fun to play together, if we had something to play.

@rjejr My thoughts exactly.

Amazing commercial, Nintendo always makes the best ads.

is this game for female mostly?

Love it. But also, hate it. It’s so sad that they can’t actually hang out in real life. At least they are engaged in real world activities, but I feel like there should always be time for hangin with friends when in school age (and beyond).

That was pretty rad how her painting was just placed on the grass like that!?!

And I also wonder, there’s got to be more to multiplayer that we haven’t seen yet right. @rjejr - rolling down a hill at least! Haha

@neogyo What could possibly b more AC than this?

@christ15 AC has a really big female following. I believe the original on GameCube had like a 60% female to male ratio.

Honestly, anyone looking at this ad and seeing some kind of promotion of 'the gay agenda' (whatever that is. Maybe to have glitter and fabulousness in everything? Not sure what would be the downside of that tbh) has obviously never been a teenage girl. I was a teenage girl once (a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away admittedly) and am now the mother of a pre-teenage girl, and this resonated with me. I have never been a gay teenage girl though, so if this was supposed to be a coded promotion of the game specifically towards gay teenage girls it would almost certainly have gone over my head anyway. I thought it was a lovely ad, showing a positive dynamic that is often ignored in media and advertising (teenage girls are not always about the dramaz, but you wouldn't know that from looking at most media including them).

Yeah.. I don't see the gay angle as well. I mean, what happened to good old friendship? Can't people just hang out anymore, without being in a relationship, be they straight or queer?

@DizziParadise def some gay subtext here. They know their audience.

@Cosats Does it really matter? Even if the ad was aimed towards the LBGTQ community it does not distract from the gameplay and the overall theme of the game itself.

@ST4RL0RD187 yes they all look the same 🤣 so racist lol

@sandman89 lololol just a stereotype

@Santa gay gays whatever

@notahuman it just needs your gay imagination

@Crockin 🙄 my comment got deleted. I saw friends struggling to stay in touch and the game brought them together. Not the gayness that you were thinking about.

@sandman89 ok

@Crockin If you happen to understand what about this video promotes homosexuality, then why don’t you enlighten us?

Edit: Not “promotes” exactly, but you get my point.

@SteveDaSteve lol it does not “promote” being gay so much as it has a potential gay subtext. It depicts two teenage girls who catch glimpses of each other and appear to be infatuated. Yes literally on the surface they are friends, but it is possible to read this from another point of view as no further details are given. Nintendo is very clearly targeting all of their AC marketing towards women, and in turn lgbtq, even if they aren’t out right signaling it. I say this as someone who works for a marketing company, and subliminal messaging is like 90% of the gig

@sandman89 bye bye

@neogyo that was exactly how I felt too. Happy they are playing together but yeh, a really sad depiction of how modern life means we miss out on the important things like friendship and community in reality.

@christ15 I'd guess so based on Animal Crossing groups on the internet.
Not by a huge margin tho. There are plenty of guys that love AC too.

I think if you like The Sims you'd like Animal Crossing. They appeal to the same audience.

@rjejr nah youre allowed to see it anyway you want, i think the whole point of the ad was to promote love and connection if anything, and let people connect their own dots. with an ad as vague as this it shouldnt matter to prove why someone see's it as gay or not, its all speculation in the end (are they supporting their friend out of romantic love or friendship? doesnt matter cause theyre all one dimensional actors with no context or backstory to know of). im sure nintendo doesnt intent for there to be a clear answer anyway

@boxyguy Judging by the reaction on "LGBTQ Japanese twitter" it is promoting a lesbian relationship. I don't read Japanese so I have no idea what any of these tweets say but I can read the gifs.

https://twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1233300461928628226

Somebody wrote some Japanese on a screenshot at the 1:40 mark. In my head "Go Yui!" still seems like something you would say to cheer on an athlete friend, not a love letter at all, and I can't read the Japanese, but I get the feeling maybe "Go Yui" translates to "Will you go out with me?" or something.

I still don't see it, but maybe it's there and only Japanese LGBTQ can see it? Or it's all just wishful thinking on their part. Nothing wrong w/ that I suppose, as long as they don't insist I see things that aren't actually there and nobody else can see but them.

To make it clear, that commercial was about Friendship of High School girls.
The friendship that built by playing Animal Crossing New Horizons together.
It wasn't talking about LGBTQ as some minority users here tend to turn on the fire.
Friendship doesn't care genders.
Boys or girls, who cares if they are going intimate in their relationship.
There are BFF, Bromance, whatever, named by yourself.
I'm asking back to you.
Have you ever have very close friends?
And do you mind with your friend's gender ?

@Crockin their is nothing remotely gay in this, but if you see that good for you. But I saw no typical gay behaviour, you know....over dramatic acting, constantly saying sexual puns, because the whole gay community is a sex thing first. I personally saw none of that so curious to what you saw? Probably the girls looking at their friends missing them so they play on the switch to connect translated to in your gutter mind that they wanted to have sex?

@Deathwalka David Brent...is that you??

I kinda want to buy a switch light for my mom and this game now. However my dad complains about her gaming time as is.

@Ryu_Niiyama wow that’s awesome haha what does your mom play?

@Zimon you right, i can see from the nintendo direct AC game is relaxing and maybe not difficult for most female players. Last simulation game i play is harvest moon back to nature lol, maybe will pickup this AC later.

@mesome713 i see, female players surely dominated, maybe my wife will like this game too.

@neogyo she mostly likes puzzle games and racing games. Like myself she doesn’t have the patience for platformers. She has like ten times the hours put into mario kart wii and 7 than I do. When they put dr mario on mobile I didn’t hear from her for a week. (I live on the other side of the country so I call my folks at least every other day.) She doesn’t buy systems often but she maintains her own game library. I already know when I go to visit she is going to borrow my Switch for the whole trip.

To be honest I think she would find animal crossing boring but I would love a game we could share that isn’t a competition. In other words I'm tired of getting curb stomped in mario kart. She does like to watch others play action games if they have a good story as well. I think she’d like skyrim (She has asked me about it before) but if that sucked her in my dad would put her out the house. (Joking)

He detests video games.

@Ryu_Niiyama that’s amazing. I wish I could get my mom into games. Better yet would be my girlfriend, but both of them are too into the natural world and find games to be too alien haha.