The version 3.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons has dropped early, coming out on January 14, 2026, instead of its planned release date of January 15. Nintendo's best-selling life simulation game originally came out on March 20, 2020, and fans are still making all sorts of creative islands with their animal villagers nearly six years later. As the second-best selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, behind only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons keeps giving the few Switch owners who haven't played it a reason to pick it up.
Version 3.0 is the first large-scale update for New Horizons in over four years. While there have been a few patches to the game to improve stability since then, version 2.0 saw the release of the expansive Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC on November 5, 2021. This isn't the first game in the series to get a surprise update years after fans thought it was done, either -- Animal Crossing: New Leaf released outside of Japan in 2013, but had its Welcome amiibo expansion come out in 2016. The series may take its time with updates, but it's always delivered on them.
Best Items to Sell for Profit in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Players can get some easy money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by selling these items.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 3.0 Releases Early
The new update includes a number of quality-of-life features along with new activities for players to enjoy on their own and with friends. According to the official Animal Crossing website and the official trailer, the new version adds several activities and features to get players, old and new, excited.
What's New in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 3.0?
- A new resort hotel to decorate for guests
- A new in-game currency to earn: hotel tickets
- New DIY crafting request system
- Slumber Island, a new shared "dream world" island to share and decorate with other players
- Resetti's Reset Service to help with island cleanup
- Ability to store 9,000 items
- New Nintendo items - including playable retro consoles and crossovers with LEGO, The Legend of Zelda, and Splatoon
While 3.0 has been released early, the Nintendo Switch 2 edition upgrade has not been made available yet. It will probably be released on January 15 as planned. Luckily, 3.0 is robust enough to entertain Switch 2 owners during the day-long wait. The abilities to store plants and clean up chunks of land in one go have been requested for years, and Slumber Island will be a great tool for planning out island layouts. And while the website or trailer didn't mention it, Animal Crossing: New Horizons finally has bulk crafting.
For a free update, this is impressive. Animal Crossing: New Horizons' new hotel system stands out in particular, as it functions very similarly to the Happy Home Paradise DLC with its gimmick of decorating rooms for guests. It's a smart move to advertise the DLC as well -- for those who can afford Happy Home Paradise but haven't bought it yet, the hotel will give them a taste of what the DLC is like. For those who can't afford it, the hotel can serve as a free alternative.
The latest in Nintendo's beloved life sim getting another big update almost six years into its life is a pleasant surprise, but it makes plenty of sense from a business standpoint. As of September 30, 2025, Nintendo's official sales records say that Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 48.62 million units. It's the second best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only beaten out by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which had a three-year head start anyway.
To capitalize on the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, it's no shock that Nintendo would put one of its most successful games ever in the spotlight again. What's more surprising is the fact that the update isn't exclusive to the Switch 2. Nintendo could have gotten away with keeping it to the new console as a way to drive up sales, but it didn't. It offered the real meaty part of the update to everyone, whether they've already upgraded or not.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- March 20, 2020
- ESRB
- Everyone / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
