Animal Crossing: New Horizons Might Introduce Island Expansion With Upcoming Update

We can take a look at even more findings from dataminers found in the latest update of the game. Remember that recently in this same version there were references to the customization of fences, the cafeteria, and more.

Well, now we must add the following to this list:

1. A new tool that corresponds to the basket of petals that you can throw. This object belongs to the wedding season and in fact, has already been seen in the title.
2.  Changes related to the game’s camera, which could correspond to new angles or functions.
3. The southern line of the island seems to have doubled in size in the in-game code, something that points to a second island or something similar, with more space towards the bottom as you can see in the picture above. It is unlikely to be an expansion of the island as such, so the bet is more on a second island related to Captain, a second seaplane, or something similar.

Some are suggesting that it would be a nice second smaller island while others are speculating it to be a larger area where they can further swim and dive into the sea.

Indeed, this would be an amazing addition, as most players are already running out of space to decorate their islands. If players get a new small island, they will be able to decorate it with the recently added 1.10 event-exclusive items as well. Naturally, these are all just leaks, so take it with a grain of salt. It’s not confirmed whether Nintendo will introduce it in the next patch or not.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a hit. It’s such a hit that it will probably end up as the number one Switch game of all time, dethroning Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and could hold that top spot forever. So it makes perfect sense that Nintendo is going to try and chase that success.

Speaking to Nikkei, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explains how the game got so popular, in fairly obvious terms: “It’s true that our recent growth has stemmed from the need for people to stay at home. Even though (Japan’s) state of emergency is over, people are spending more time at home than before.”

OK, that makes a lot of sense, but there’s a lot to unpack here. New Horizons really tapped into the portable and communal element of the Switch, something consoles can lack on an emotional level. Furukawa wants to tap into that more, explaining: “As games with long lifespans like Animal Crossing become more accepted, we believe this will have a significant impact on future development. We want to provide games that can allow communication between friends and families.”

What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. If you are interested, you can also find our full coverage of the game here.