Headlines Opinion

Sorry Animal Crossing Fans, Coronavirus Won’t Make Nintendo Release New Horizons Early

Animal Crossing: New Horizon fans want Nintendo to release the game early due to the coronavirus pandemic. That's an unreasonable demand.

animal crossing: new horizons

New Horizons is going to release on Friday anyway. Four more days isn't going to make much of a difference. | Source: Nintendo

  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons is set to be released on March 20.
  • Fans are pushing Nintendo to release the game early due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  • With the supply chain already struggling, an early release is unlikely to happen.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is due out this Friday. With the coronavirus outbreak triggering lockdowns and self-quarantines around the globe, fans are clamoring for Nintendo to release the game early.

Unfortunately, it looks like the opposite may happen for some gamers.

Why Animal Crossing: New Horizons Will Not Get an Early Release

Amazon, one of the primary distribution pipelines for those in self-isolation, is struggling to deliver products on time. With coronavirus taking a toll on the supply chain, it’s likely that some deliveries will be delayed – maybe even canceled.

So, if anything, you’ll get your hands on Animal Crossing: New Horizons even later than you expected.

That hasn’t stopped fans from petitioning for an early release. More than 16,000 people had signed this one as of early Monday afternoon.

The reviews are in, and New Horizons seems like the best entry in the series so far. No wonder people want the game early. | Source: Twitter

But why would Nintendo release the game early?

It’s already going to be a logistical mess, and dropping it early threatens to compound those problems.

Gamers who purchased downloads would get to play more quickly, but an early release would only amplify frustrations for fans waiting on physical copy deliveries. That’s not fair.

Would a Few More Days Make a Difference?

Besides, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is going to release on Friday anyway. Four more days isn’t going to make much of a difference.

Our impatience about adding Animal Crossing: New Horizons to our collection is born from a place of love. Love for a game which, by all accounts, is one of the best entries in the series. But petitioning Nintendo to launch it four days early is still unreasonable behavior.

And yet it’s not all that surprising. The Age of Streaming has conditioned us to expect entertainment to be constantly piped into our homes, with little regard for the consequences.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.

Last modified: September 23, 2020 1:40 PM

Animal Crossing: New HorizonsCoronavirusNintendo
March 16, 2020 6:05 PM
William Worrall

William Worrall is a professional writer based out of the UK who has been writing about video and tabletop games for over a decade and has covered industry events such as EGX and UKGE. Contact him at william.worrall@ccn.com, see his LinkedIn profile here.