Random: You Won't Be Able To Access Your Animal Crossing Island By 2061

my great grand children will be devastated…

Time Travel rules, ahoy !

They might not have added a date so far ahead, well even if so it’s not a problem as you could just change the year, not the day.

Just in time for switch HD 😂

Bold of you to assume society will exist in 40 years.

What an oddly arbitrary number. If in 2061 Nintendo abruptly launches an EMP that takes out all Nintendo Switch systems without warning, this was your Chekov’s Gun.

I feel cheated.

Outrage!!! Why Nintendooooo?!

@Maulbert Beat me to that joke.

Pretty sure by 2061 this ain't new anymore. You don't want to continue playing Old Horizons will ya?

How stupid that the Switch (and by extension this game) even supports dates before 2017, let alone all the way back to 2000, but it won’t support up until 2099 at least (which will spell the Y2.1K apocalypse).

But the fact that it won’t let you play at all?!

But I suppose 40 years worth of content ain’t bad either...

I might even be able to collect all of the villagers’ photos by then.

Youtubers in 2061: "Nintendo lost media uncovered????"

This could be related to the Y2K38 bug, but I don't immediately see how. For those not knowing, a lot of (older, for the most part) systems store time in seconds as a signed 32 bit value which will translate to roughly 68 years. Because a lot of systems store time as Unix time, they will have year 1970 as a starting point, meaning that a lot of systems will stop from working in 2038.

This isn't a problem with 64 bit systems, and I would hope it doesn't concern Switch either. However, it's possible Animal Crossing has some additional limitations (like starting from year 2000) which could explain things. Or, perhaps Nintendo just added some artificial time in code and thought that it would be quite enough. I doubt many people will play New Horizons in 2061, so not a big deal.

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. If people weren't concerned with such terms, do you think space-themed TV programs would so recurrently and vividly describe how the Sun and consequentially Earth will be doomed in a mere few billion years?

Nintendo are so anti- consumer

Another limited release, flippin heck

I think most people got fed up with it after 2021 so it’s nothing to worry about.

@SJW lol

@neufel YouTube won't exist then as the e-begging/Patreon/send to my P.O. Box bubble will have burst, popped by 'Scott The Woz' who doesn't use any of those tricks to get viewers' money/items which is why he is the BEST and KING of YouTube.

Can't believe Nintendo keep getting away with this stuff, unfinished games and in game clocks that do mot go on for hundreds of years...

I barely have the motivation to play it in 2022, I'm not too concerned about 2060

Dang I'll be 76 by then. Hope I'm still alive and healthy enough to time travel backwards in my beloved island lol. Got me curious though if there will be any functioning Switches by then that doesn't cause a fortune.

I’m more concerned with the year 20XX, which according to video games will be a year that has giant destructive robots, alien invasions and criminal gangs will rule the streets

Yes, after 2 years and well over 600 hours, I am finally done. It has been a very good time on my island. I have visited to look, but that great game play loop is no longer captivating me. I am now starting to think about the next animal crossing.

Long live Animal Crossing!

@Maulbert
It's not that bold.

Only 60 years of content and they are charging full price? Meh.. not gonna buy this one either..

@ButterCashier (It's a joke.)

I think its more impressive that the game is ready for timetravellers who manage to play it in the year 2000.

@johnvboy by no means this is unfinished. Nintendo just has more information about the exact date of doomsday, so just take your notes, you gonna need em in ~36 years from now.

Is it too late to cancel my preorder?

Uhh, why? What's the reason for doing this? This will cause problems for those that want to play New Horizons and doesn't know this. Someone might play the Switch version for nostalgia reasons or a new fan around that time decided to try one of the older titles in the series. This issue would be forgotten by then and end up confusing people when it gets to 2061 eventually.

@valcoholic,

Just joking, the game is amazing and the best Animal Crossing game ever imho.

@Link-Hero,

Not sure if you are joking, or being serious.

Preorder cancelled. Even though I'll most likely be dead in 2061.

@johnvboy
I am being serious. Just want to know why Nintendo put in this restriction. Is it because of a bug that they don't want to fix, or to just block people from playing this game for some arbitrary or selfish reason?

Oh no. The millennium bug again, but this time it really means the end of the world….

Confirmed: Worlds Ends on Dec 31st 2059!

@Link-Hero probably because the game has to know whether it’s a leap year, so-to-know if there is an April 31st and whether Halloween is on a Thursday or a Saturday or whatever. I think it’s something like that.
So they stopped adding to their calendar, just like the Mayans.

@Ryan_Again checking if a year is a leap year is a programming exercise for computer science students in their first year.
This should not be a valid reason. (Which in the weird Nintendo world usually means: This is the reason)

It's obviously silly to think we'd still care by 2061, but I think this game is going to be hard for a lot of people to let go. It's a bit of a time capsule and was one of the few bright spots during those early days of COVID and lockdowns. Few games probably have that kind of place in peoples' hearts.

Wow this is a pass for me. So you are saying I only get to play this game until I am 70? What a rip off

@Link-Hero,

You must be crazy then, but good luck to you.

@WiltonRoots,

This has to be the most insane outrage article NL have ever produced, who knows where they can go from here?

As even this none issue insanity, is causing potential problems for some of our members.

@KoopaTheGamer Yeah, I'm not sure how it would be related to Y2K38.

Retro Gamers in 2061:
What? This is outrageous. It's unfair!

This was originally posted on Reddit? I saw it on YouTube.

I will die on this island

@johnvboy been joking too hehe and yeah; i'm not even into AC and still playing this one regularly after 2 years

This isn't any different than the limited time you can play every other AC game in the series. It's not like Nintendo tries to hide this so I'm not sure why this is suddenly hitting the news outlets.

@ChaoticIgnorance,

Pretty sure it's another fake outrage article for clicks, for sure on here at least.

I was literally thinking yesterday what I would do in the GameCube AC game, where the date only goes to 2030. I guess find the year that's closest to 2031?

And yet, we still wouldn't have GTA VI by then.

Ugh. No way will there be an inch of space not covered in weeds after you play with the date that much😫

Okay, NOW I'm convinced Nintendo is anti-consumer.

The Switch time setting only lets you choose years between 2000 and 2060.
Leap years are simple enough, but there's holidays which move around from year to year, like Bunny Day (Easter), and they probably only set so many years of holidays.

@johnvboy

What outrage in the article are you referring to?

@Franklin,

It's inviting complaints for something that's pretty much a none issue, and guess what, it's managed to do so.

The article is there for clicks and to cause issues, nothing more.

@johnvboy

"all you have to do is rewind to continue enjoying island life, so there's no need to panic. And given how far away this actual date is, this shouldn't really be a concern."

Is verbatim what the article says.
Goes on to say:

"Animal Crossing has been around for over 20 years now and has already had five major entries, so if it's still a thing in 2061, we're sure the latest and greatest version will be what everyone is playing by then."

There are 60 comments on this page, and I could find only 2 users who seemed genuinely annoyed by this news.
If all you have is a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.

The main faux outrage here is yours.

Now you see kids, when I raised your Mom and your Dad, we all played this Hybrid Console, called The Nintendo Switch. It's Now The Best Selling Console of All time!!! I've purchased two extra Brand new Switch Lite Consoles, in 2022, for you two cousins to play. Enjoy 😎👍

@Franklin,

This and other articles know exactly what they are doing, but agree to disagree with you, won't be the first time, or the last.

I do realize this article is far more light hearted than other ones, just fail to see why is even worth reporting on.

@johnvboy

I found it mildly diverting,
as did you seemingly,
as you clicked and commented.

@Franklin,

If you think I am going to keep replying to you, you are sorely mistaken, I tell you.

@johnvboy

My response didn't invite a reply.
You are of course welcome to do so.

@Franklin,

I know, just felt like replying, have a good one.

Maybe by then, Pikmin 4 will be out and I’ll have something else to play.

@Serpenterror It's the year 2022 and I still play my n64, it is so much fun still to snap with them all in Pokémon and collect all the stars in Mario.

So? The switch won't survive that long, most won't even make it to 2040.

@johnvboy no, this is real news, you can check it out for yourself

@Leksa why won't you buy ACNH? It's awesome!

@Ryan_Again and why is that confirmed? ACNH stops working on 1/1/2061

I don't buy it. Which means i don't believe that you can't play animal crossing new horizons in 2061. This has to be fake.

This sounds too much of a stretch. Why the hell are there people fearmongering over something like this? Systems (and games) are still going to function like they always do, even after 38 years from now.