During its E3 Direct, Nintendo today revealed an official name for its Animal Crossing project, announced earlier this year, and also shared some sad news: you won't be able to play the game until March 20, 2020. That's the better part of a year from today.
In the video, Nintendo explained that it simply needs more time to finish building Animal Crossing: New Horizons into the best game it can be. That's disappointing, and there's no getting around it, so Nintendo placed the news closer to the end of its presentation than the beginning, somewhat softening the blow by revealing a bunch of other games you'll be able to play in the meantime.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons looks to begin with a character arriving on an island to enjoy a vacation package purchased from Tom Nook. The entrepreneurial raccoon himself is on hand to help with item crafting, and to remind the player about a looming debt for services rendered. The player was also seen building roads and getting together with friends on a beach, among other things, so it looks like a more definite social element may also be in place. It will be interesting to see how ambitious Nintendo gets with this new design, but certainly the familiar elements seem to be in place.
Nintendo will have a lot of time between now and March to reveal additional elements of the still very much in-development title. In the meantime, check out the trailer embedded above to get a good look at what's developed so far. Then make whatever modifications are necessary on your calendar and go back to waiting (this time at least with the comfort of a very specific release date that is unlikely to change again).
