Animal Crossing: New Horizons Has Sold Over 22 Million Copies

Sales momentum apparently isn't slowing down, either.

The growth of this brand has been pretty unreal.

Watch out, peoples.
I have surpassed more than 285 hours gameplay within 40 days in a row for ACNH. 😉

And....
Don't tell anyone if i have ever played ACNH during bedtime. 🤫

Fastest-selling Nintendo games in history after 2 fiscal quarters on the market:
1) Animal Crossing New Horizons: 22.40 million units in 4 months
2) Pokemon Sword/Shield: 17.37 million units in 5 months
3) Pokemon Sun/Moon: 15.44 million units in 5 months
4) New Super Mario Bros Wii: 14.70 million units in 5 months
5) Super Smash Bros Ultimate: 13.81 million units in 4 months

The only games that have sold 22+ million units in < 4 months are Call of Duty, GTAV, and RDR2. All of those were multiplatform holiday launches.

These numbers are genuinely mindblowing.

I don't get the hype behind Animal Crossing, tried it, got boring really fast

@mariomaster96 It's not my flavour either, but it's classic blue ocean. Draw in non-traditional (non-'core') gamers. Just read r/nintendoSwitch/ and you'll see so many anecdotes of people who scooped it, and their spouse/kids/neighbor got hooked and they ended up having to buy another system and another copy of the game.

Kinda nuts, and again, not my jams, but glad it's working out. Would much rather have people playing games together than trying to set each other on fire in real life.

I’m starting to think this may be why Nintendo is in no rush to pump out new games in quick succession. Just a few of its titles just rake in the dough and continue to do so for months if not years.

@mariomaster96 if Animal crossing gets boring, you're playing it too fast. Animal Crossing is a "slow" game, which you play each day for a couple of hours. That way you will automatically adjust to it's pace and then it becomes literally one of the best Switch games.

Congrats to the developers for making an game that sells that many copies in less that half a year

@FX102A While that's a fun observation, that's not entirely how economy works. Nintendo has a lot of subsidiaries under its wing and they have many developers who did not participate in the creation of this game. Trust me when I say this money isn't going to just pay off all the other developers who are working on other projects to have a good, long holiday. Instead, the majority of it is going into the development of other, bigger projects.

This maybe gave incentive to prolong some development times in order to make higher quality releases, but that's already pushing it.

A company, and I mean every single company out there has one major objective and that's to expand. They constantly have to have heightened work-loads and increasing capacity in order to put out more revenue year upon year. I guarantee you if anything they are probably putting more pressure on developers to make playable versions of upcoming games so they can release new trailers.

If Nintendo was some indie dev who made a load of cash, put some shades on and went to a Hawaiian resort sipping martini, well that would be a whole different story.

Aya Kyogoku queen

Looks like the one island per Switch really paid off.

Those sales numbers are insane, but I’m honestly not surprised considering how wide the appeal of this game is. Look at my family alone as an example: I’m a non-casual Nintendo and PS4 gamer, and I’ve clocked almost 500 hours into ACNH, playing every day since launch. My fiancé - a hardcore PC and Xbox gamer who originally only got a Switch to play Pokemon with me - has played almost 200 hours in the past couple of months alone. My mum, a very casual gamer who bought a Lite because it was ‘cute’, has played over 500 hours of AC since launch, and my dad - a non-gamer who has only dabbled on Farmville and a few mobile games before - has bought his own Switch and surpassed the 600 hours mark.

This game resonates with so many different audiences, I wouldn’t be surprised if it became the top-selling Switch game by the time the console’s life cycle is over.

looks like despite Nintendo having a very slow 2020 Animal Crossing New Horizons is going to be the best selling game of the year over Last of Us part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy 7 Remake and others

I've played over 700 hours and still loving it. I'm glad other are enjoying it too.

Had to RMA my Switch. They actually made me delete my save myself. Haven't started again yet at like 280 hours I got decent bang for my buck, but obviously I would prefer to continue

That means nearly a 3rd of all switch owners own the game. That's an insane attach rate.

Very good attach rate, but it were not a game for me.
Same day this game released, i bought 2 other physical games instead. Astral Chain and Super Mario Maker 2.

Not bad for the worst game in the series , but honestly how anyone thought the outcome of this would be anything other than awesome sales is deluded, the latest entry is pure gaming gold.

@Grandiajet,

I am at 560 hours, do not have as much time now the lockdown has eased in the U.K, just bought my daughter a neon Switch and a copy of the game, so I connected the spare dock to my cinema room projector, the game looks amazing on a 110 inch screen, and sounds so good through my surround system.

It's mind boggling seeing how some people have put 300-700 hours into this game, I've put 35 hours in and literally ran out of things to do, it's now just fish every day to get bells and buy things from the shop to decorate my house

This is the point when something has crossed over from being merely a videogame, to becoming a cultural phenomenon similar to the likes of Pokemon, Minecraft, The Sims, Grand Theft Auto, Wii Sports and others.

Personally I love the game, I love that it is doing so well, I love that they keep working on it and adding to it ... I love that it's the product of a diverse and talented team with a female lead director.

@sanderev I love your explanation: "it is a slow game". That frustration hit me years ago with New Leaf. It was when I got into the right tempo that New Leaf clicked and I put in over 500 hours.

I am over 230 in New Horizons and I don't see an end. My daily routine is still a pleasant chill, and when I want to do more, I think of a terraforming project.

This game is phenomenal and it deserves a big place in the Nintendo universe.

@Anti-Matter,

Have you been time traveling again?, hanging is too good for you.

Super Mario Odyssey sold 18.06m (the article doesn't mention it) so Animal Crossing New Horizons is the best-selling Switch exclusive. Unbelievable.

@sanderev,

The core gamers tend to miss the point as they see it as a game that has to be completed in some way, when in reality it's just a life simulator that has no real goals apart from the ones you personally set.

@johnvboy
I played ACNH by 5 - 6 hours in a day by average.
Took 1 - 1.5 hours to finish harvesting more than 90 fruit trees, greeting my villagers, took down the balloons, random fishing, ordering the furnitures, beautify my public venues, etc.
After everything has been finished for 1 day, i saved then changed the clock to proceed the next day, just like playing Harvest Moon.

If i was in the mood for Star Fragments hunting, i got the exact date and time to exploit tons of Star fragments from shooting stars by Time Travelling.
Just simply forward and backward by 1 day to farm the Star fragments on the beach, repeat the process until i got bored.

I still haven't collected all the Easter stuffs and Wedding theme since i bought the game on 27 June 2020.
Time travelling saved my day.

@Anti-Matter,

Some of the games elements like moving houses and building bridges/inclines are needlessly long and drawn out, no wonder people do a little time traveling to speed things up a little, even more if they do not have tonnes of time to devote to a video game, people on here do not realize this.

@johnvboy I had very little work for the first 3 months of lockdown. It's got better now. AC really helped me get through a rough patch. The projector sounds awesome!

@mariomaster96 I've never seen The "hype" around Pokemon it's boring as *****

@Grandiajet,

Pardon the pun it was a real eye opener, and looked amazing on the larger screen, I was expecting it to look a little rough.

Agree with you there I was off until June the 1st and those two months were tough, but this game was a constant form of joy to all of us in the house.

@KBuckley27,

I see what you did there fella, a comment stating you simply did not like it, or did not see it's appeal was not provocative enough, so had to put in the "it's boring as *****" remark, well done sir, how this games success has triggered you is a mystery, but each to their own as they say.

I have a tissue for you to wipe away all your salty tears.

@Varkster That’s kind of what was going through my mind. Whilst Nintendo has always delved into experimenting and new ideas, the fact that their titles provide a source of income over a long period lets its development teams perform their experiments (which could lead nowhere) rather than be forced to makes games that can be pumped out quickly but offer little uniqueness. Of course even Nintendo went through a bit of rehashing in the past; New Super Mario Bros. Springs to mind.

@johnvboy It's not really something for "core gamers", it's just a lot of people these days want that instant gratification.

"I've done something, I want the game to acknowledge that and tell me what to do next!"

And that's just not Animal Crossing. The game really doesn't care about what you want. And sure, you can time travel and complete stuff faster, but that's just cheating yourself out of a good time. Because you won't look deeper and you'll miss 90% of what the game actually has to offer.
This is why Nintendo locked new features / events behind updates. To force the player to slow down and "smell the roses."

That's also why I'm against cheating in games. You only cheat yourself, and then blame the game for not having a good time.

Because everyone who says "I played Animal Crossing for 5 hours and I hate it because it's boring" either:
1. Need to play more, because the game really doesn't start until day 2.
Or, most likely, 2: have been time travelling and missing all those awesome details this game has to offer.

@playstation_king the game really starts once you got a 3 stars rating though..

Is this because it’s only 1 island per game, people are having to buy multiple copies?

<gets coat, sneaks out the side door>

@sanderev,

Love the way they have updated things, it;s he right way to go in my opinion, but you will never convince me that there are not very antiquated mechanics in play here, and that time traveling is cheating, it's manipulation at the end of the day pure and simple, cheating would suggest an outcome that was unavailable to others and yielded outcomes that were not meant to be available in the first place.

Hacking on the other hand is a totally different matter.

@johnvboy you have a very weird definition of cheating.

And to think that New Horizons is not even "complete" yet ...
Future updates will keep players hooked to this game for a long time and getting the attention of new consumers

I don't get it. None of my friends enjoy this game and make it sound appealing after the first few hours then it gets boring real fast

This game looks nice, and my wife and son are playing this game everyday, and realy enjoying it.
The reason why i dont play it, is because the camera functionalities are realy bad.
Why not 360 movement what hell.

What i do like about it, is like nintendo posted on the daily news online, take notice of all the attention to detail.
Every item look beatifull, i like the weather effects, and the fireworks lightning effects on the beach. Every item is put attention on it, the caracters fur looks realy cool. Also the museum is great, but should have had alot of info about the species in the museum itself.

@johnvboy
I have my switch hooked on a 65 inch lg cx with a philips sync box, so every lamp turns to a color mapped on screen.
I tell you, when my wife and kid play this game, animal crossing is pure magic with all its colors, in a dark room.
I have like 6 lights in proximity of my screen.

@johnvboy Why are you so angry. I honestly found it to get boring after about 40 hours but it is what it is. But I am not on here yelling at people who find it fun or those who find it boring.

Arguably, the worst entry in the series (festival doesn't count) and it sells the most... :/

Would you say guys is much better than the rest of the series?? I've tried AC many times, in many consoles, but never really liked it. Do you think that would change with this one?

AC was always going to be successful, but I hope Nintendo doesn't take the wrong messages to heart about this selling so well, largely induced as a social media phenomenon during the pandemic, like everything else that caught on during the pandemic via social media hype, and not learn what works and what doesn't about this game. This entry tried to improve on AC but the way they did it, IMO makes it much worse. But from the sales' they'll assume it's much better.

@sanderev @johnvboy I say this as a big AC fan and a huge ACNL fan....one of my favorite, most memorable games: ACNH simply sucks. And it's depressing the sales are so high. It's ACNL HD but with mobile-inspired gameplay frustrated bolted onto it (which explains why it appeals so much to mobile gaming mass market consumers.)

I played Fantasy Life shortly after ACNL and thought "this is a better AC than AC!" Obviously AC does not need combat (but the island beetle hunts kind of counted as that) - I thought AC would benefit from a resource system and a crafting system. So I was thrilled when they announced ACNH would get all that!

But the way they implemented it is the worst tropes of every MMO and mobile game out there designed so that you spend real money to get rid of the frustration. Except AC doesn't have real-money unlocks to end the pain....they think that's the core gameplay. The slow as molasses UI, inventory limitations, the constantly breaking tools. The continuous need for resources that rely on the real world clock to respawn (and you can't hold enough of the materials at a time)....checklisting task lists for Miles, the need for grinding massive sums of bells. They took what could have been fantastic add-ons to really expand the game and make it both a "real game" and classic AC, they leaned too hard into making it a "real mobile game" with the systems employed. You say it's a "slow" life sim game without real goals. That was true of AC in the past, but it's not really true with this AC. This one gamified it more like a "core" game, so you have endless checklisting to complete, enough to put Ubisoft to shame, but every single action has a capacity limit or cooldown timer, tied to the real world clock, like the worst mobile designs.

In that sense they broke the "chill life sim" aspect of it and made it a frustrating "core game" instead. I'm fairly disappointed with it. I keep picking it up wanting to love it like ACNL and getting frustrated...."I just wanted to work on getting some resources or bells...but then the shovel broke again....then the axe broke again while I was getting more wood for that....oh great, I missed the rock so there goes my once a day chance for ore......oh great, now the shop is closed so I either have to get 80% for these fossils or leave them laying on the lawn until tomorrow where the store will probably be closed AGAIN by the time I get to the game......screw it, I'm playing Oninaki."

It's a life simulator all right. It properly simulates everything going wrong, all the time, and always running behind and under stress.

Unlike previous AC that was very laid back, and you could enjoy it more if you slowed to it's pace. This entry actually does have goals. And endless list of ever renewing goals to complete, walled not by skill or effort....but by the dreaded cooldown timer and inventory limit. Cooldown timers aren't used for fun, they're used so you pay $0.99 to reset the timer. And inventory limits aren't used for fun: That's the system Elder Scrolls Online uses to encourage subscriptions to premium. The inventory is small enough that serious crafter players couldn't really play without the unlimited inventory premium subscriptions supply (while story players that don't craft can get through without a sub.) The crafting + inventory limit is used to drive monthly payments. ACNH does it "for fun"

But, seriously, if not for the pandemic and the social-media-perfect aesthetics, I do wonder how this new entry would be received. I'm surprised every time I see the praise all over it because so much of the game feels so wrong. And it could easily be made right...but it's Nintendo so they double down on the wrong and make you beg them to restore your saves that you paid for, and they release core parts of the game as downloads instead of them being in the game from the start....

So for me, it's not an "I'm a gamer, and I don't get AC" complaint." It's "I'm a gamer but I loved AC....and they took it and ruined it by trying to make it more of a "game" but did it badly and in a way that's just frustrating more than anything.

EDIT: And the one fun thing ACNL had for resource gathering, the nightly bug hunt, was replaced by visiting empty random island but not having much inventory space....and you have to pay 2k Miles to get there.....and to get the miles.....you grind a renewing list of menial tasks...... ugh!

@NEStalgia,

There are issues without a doubt, a lot of plodding game mechanics for sure, but it has still not stopped me putting the most hours into a Animal crossing title, and having lots of fun as well.

This just might be the most addictive game Nintendo have ever made, after sinking 300 hours into Zelda I thought nothing would come close, how wrong I was.

@Browntrouser,

If they simply stated they did not like it, then fair enough, but the comments are always designed to provoke a response, then the people that post such comments get surprised when people respond.

@johnvboy Hmm...I just don't get it...I find it far less addictive due to all that frustration. It feels like it's manufactured to waste more time than ever, but feel like you're having less fun doing it. When I pick it up I find I spend far more time than I intended to....but I feel like I qualify for a "video game addiction" diagnosis every time I do. My 20 minute short burst doesn't become 2 hours because it's so fun and I'm so hooked like other "addictive" games. It feels like I'm forcing myself to put up with it to complete all the checklists it wants me to complete. It's like taking out the garbage...I don't want to do it, but it simply has to be done to be marked off the list even though it's the inverse of fun. Compare to ACNL I played for like 4 months straight with little else except Project X Zone punctuating it, at the time, and never wanted to put it down, even though I didn't really have anything else to do that day...

I'm not sure what the "appeal" to this one is through all the annoying poorly implemented mechanics, but whatever it is it's lost on me...even as a big fan of the series (my 3 Switch account icons, are K.K., The Nooklings, and Tom Nook......formerly such a big fan (so big...) )

It's just twice as frustrating that they broke the game by implementing precisely what I wanted them to implement, too. But with Nintendo, you always get the "Monkey's Paw" version of your wish....I wanted crafting and resources and they gave it to me me....wrapped in mobile game design.

I finally got around to the "quest" to get KK (see, there's that gamification again), and now I have to gather a bunch MORE resources to get KK to show up!

Why not just add unit building and let us invade neighboring islands while we're at it.

@sanderev,

I have not missed any content at all, I have only ever skipped a day at a time to speed up some of the more boring aspects of the game, which in my opinion are very antiquated play mechanics, if people feel that's cheating then fair enough.

@NEStalgia,

I liked new leaf as well, but for some reason this has me hooked far more, I suppose the visuals are a big part of this, the 3DS was just so far behind even Nintendo's awesome art design could not hide it, and the new island designer and crafting tools just make this look even better.

The gradual roll out of features just makes more sense to me, but I can see how some will have issues with it.

@johnvboy Since you time travel, I'll say it's possible that affects the feel of the experience (though doing so is cumbersome on its own)...it's effectively the "free" version of those paid mobile cooldown unlocks (that the cooldown timers are designed to require...) so you're getting the less encumbered version of play. I'm not time traveling, so I get the full "wait until tomorrow to continue grinding" mechanic.

I don't have a moral objection to time travel as "cheating" - I'm just too lazy to bother and I'm always afraid it'll inadvertently affect something else like cloud save time stamps and I'll end up doing something I'll regret.

@NEStalgia,

I have done a little time traveling, but for the most part have just let things play out, I guess the main reason was to put all my houses together, but the whole point is to let things happen a day at a time.

On the inevitable day I find this game at a discount somewhere I'll probably pick it up since it really doesnt appeal to me enough to ever buy it at full price. That being said I'm not really shocked at the numbers considereing stardew valley has been in the top I think 10 of the download sales for years, I really just wonder how much some of those other games would have also benefitted from being the new hotness around the time of a nearly 3 month lockdown.

Huge numbers!! I think maybe outsold Mario Kart!

@SPL64 with the upcoming Fall or Winter update and holiday season, that might add Brewster, the Roost vastly expanded acting like a real cafeteria/Restaurant, the Cooking/Farming mechanics with the depth of the Crafting mechanics/DIY system and Vegetables/Meals, yes yes theres a huge chance that Animal Crossing New Horizons will become the highest/best selling Switch game.

i immetely fell in love by this game, i have 325h clocked and rising, i knew Animal Crossing New Horizons would have be a sucess, but a never expected them to become close to destrone Mario Kart 8Deluxe, maybe at the beginning/middle of 2021 Nintendo will anounce that Animal Crossing New Horizons is the highest/best selling Switch game?

Didn't enjoy New Leaf so I haven't bought New Horizons but I'm certainly willing to try it at some point. These numbers are insane.

What's amazing is to think that 14 year old Rhi got made fun of for playing " that weird niche gamecube game with the animals".... and now it's nintendos biggest series

@Giancarlothomaz,

Same here, the game just has that visual polish that none of the previous entries had, and as I like to look around at all the hard work I have done on my Island, the fact it looks good is a massive bonus.

@Giancarlothomaz
You have accumulated 325 hours for ACNH ?
I will surpass your gameplay hours in 1 week later. 😉
Currently i have accumulated more than 285 hours within 40 days in a row.