Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the social simulation to new heights when it launched exclusively on the Switch in 2020, and it's apparently become a source of inspiration for the team at Maxis, who is currently working on the next entry in The Sims series (codenamed "Project Rene").
Speaking on a Radio Times podcast recently, vice president of franchise creative Lyndsay Pearson mentioned how the development team discussed Animal Crossing "all the time" when talking about The Sims 5's multiplayer feature. Nintendo's island entry is supposedly a "good example" of personal spaces and other inventive ideas bringing players together (thanks, IGN):
"It is such a good example of my little space, my little island, but I can invite you over."
"And we've seen throughout the last few years of Animal Crossing, people inventing ways to play together that the game doesn't specifically support, but they've made up scavenger hunts or whatever, which is amazing. Or people who hosted talk shows on Animal Crossing, I think, is incredible, right?"
One other game that's being used to guide multiplayer in the next Sims entry is Among Us. As crazy as this might sound, the team is drawing inspiration from the collaborative mystery-solving multiplayer.
Project Rene was originally announced a year ago but is still likely a while away. When it does arrive, it apparently will be free to download and will be available on PC and mobile. Other platforms have not been announced at this point in time.