2020 was a quiet year for Nintendo on the whole, but it still had one big hit on its hands thanks to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It had been quite a long time since Nintendo released a new mainline Animal Crossing game, so Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a welcome addition to the franchise. Even so, the game's success is on a scale that even Nintendo might not have expected. It just happened to be the perfect game to pick up at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving people everywhere a fun new way to simulate the outdoors and interact with their friends at a safe distance.
Nintendo clearly knows that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still a heavy hitter, because it recently confirmed that New Horizons will get more updates this year. The game may be a year and a half old, but it doesn't look like Nintendo is done supporting it. However, free updates aren't the only way it should support New Horizons, though. In recent years, Nintendo seems to have warmed up to the idea of paid DLC, putting it in a few different games and raking in a lot of cash for it. As such, it ought to consider putting together some optional paid DLCs for Animal Crossing: New Horizons alongside the game's regular updates.
The Case for Animal Crossing: New Horizons Expansions
Nintendo didn't always make use of DLCs, but it's changed its tune in recent years. The fourth Super Smash Bros. game for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS offered purchasable DLC characters, and Smash Ultimate picked up on that trend to much success. That's not the only example, though. Nintendo famously broke its own conventions by creating paid expansions for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, adding new missions for Link. There's also the recent expansions for Pokemon Sword and Shield, which introduced new parts of Galar to explore and hundreds of Pokemon previously missing from Sword and Shield. All of these DLCs have been pretty big hits, so odds seem good that Nintendo will keep experimenting with DLC in the future.
It's true that not everybody is happy with Nintendo's new trend of paid expansions. For instance, some fans remain critical of the Sword and Shield DLCs for adding Pokemon that they believe should've been in the base game to begin with. However, that highlights how Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC can succeed. The difference between New Horizons and the latest Pokemon games is that it doesn't have glaring omissions that Nintendo could fix through expansions. New Horizons is already very well received, so Nintendo can focus on adding more ways to enjoy the experience, rather than using DLC to fill in the gaps. So long as Nintendo follows that rule while creating DLC in the future, it should be met with a better reception. It's overwhelmingly difficult for an expansion to overhaul the reception of a game, but an expansion can always enhance a game that fans already love.
Imagining Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC
There's quite a few ways that Nintendo could go when it comes to an Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC. For instance, Nintendo could offer fans some DLC-exclusive villagers. There's dozens of characters that don't show up in New Horizons, especially villagers from very early Animal Crossing games, so a collection of classic villagers might appeal to longtime fans of Animal Crossing. Similarly, there's some villagers exclusive to newer games like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp that might make good DLCs, appealing to fans who enjoyed the mobile game in the years between Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Nintendo doesn't have to stop at villagers of games gone by, though. It could also introduce some surprising brand new villagers lifted from other Nintendo IPs. Technically Nintendo has done this before -- previous Animal Crossing games gave The Legend of Zelda fans the option to get Twilight Princess' Wolf Link, Ocarina of Time's Epona, and the infamous demon king Ganon as villagers. Nintendo could easily bring these characters back as DLCs and then some. For instance, it could go so far as to add exclusive non-animal villagers in the form of famous Nintendo characters. Characters like Mario and Princess Peach could add a fun twist to any New Horizons village.
Beyond villagers, there's no end to the amount of cosmetics Nintendo could offer as DLC. New Horizons' recent Super Mario event was warmly received, so there's no reason it couldn't do similar themed expansions for various Nintendo franchises. For instance, Pikmin-themed decorations would be a charming addition to a player's garden, while furniture based on The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, and so on could help fans recreate their favorite game hubs and show off their love of a franchise inside their villager's home. There's always room for more decoration options in Animal Crossing.
New Horizons is Here to Stay
One wonders just how likely it is that Nintendo decides to capitalize on Animal Crossing: New Horizons' success. More than a year after the game's release would seem like a strange time to announce DLC, but there's really no reason Nintendo couldn't do so. Upcoming updates to New Horizons prove Nintendo is still working on free content for the game, so it could easily pivot into making some paid DLC content too. It should also be noted that New Horizons' surprise popularity may have changed Nintendo's perspective on DLC for the game. If it wasn't considering optional expansions before, it might be considering them now.
There's certainly a lot of money to be made by investing in New Horizons DLC. After all this time, there's still Animal Crossing fans playing the game fervently, creating impressive things like recreations of famous Pokemon locations. As long as these fans keep crafting breathtaking islands, there'll be a market for exclusive Animal Crossing content. Even if Nintendo doesn't opt into making DLCs for New Horizons, though, it's comforting to know that the game's future is secure. Hopefully Nintendo will keep updating the game into 2022, diligently adding more items to collect and craft. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is already an influential title in the series with a lot of experimental mechanics, so it wouldn't be out of place for Nintendo to experiment with DLC too.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.