Paid & Free Content Updates For Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Here's What's Coming January 2026

Players of Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), despite likely having invested thousands of hours into the game, have been very vocal in online spaces about their perceived lack of new content for Nintendo's million-selling animal-mascot-based social simulation.

Now, after almost exactly 4 years of nothing but sporadic bug fixes, Nintendo uploaded a video titled "Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition & Free Update – Announcement Trailer" to their official channels on October 30, 2025.

Both updates will arrive simultaneously on January 15, 2026. Here's what will be included:

Free Content Update

All versions of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, no matter if played on Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2, will receive the following new content:

1. New Resort Hotel built on the Island Pier:
   1. Decorate themed guest rooms for visitors.
   2. Earn hotel tickets as rewards for decoration efforts.
   3. Exchange tickets for souvenirs at the hotel's shop, managed by Grams.
   4. Offer rental outfits to guests; players can also wear them.
   5. Use amiibo to invite special characters as hotel guests.
2. Tom Nook's initiative to boost island recognition:
   1. Players craft DIY items for export, earning hotel tickets.
   2. Kapp'n delivers these items to promote player's own island elsewhere.
3. Home Storage Expansion:
   1. Increases from 5,000 to 9,000 items.
   2. Trees, shrubs, and flowers can now be stored.
4. Rosetti's Cleanup Service:
   1. Can be spontaneously ordered to clean targeted areas of the island.
   2. Players choose which sections, flowers, or designs to remove.
   3. Removed items are safely stored for later retrieval.
5. Luna's "Slumber Islands":
   1. By going to bed, players can visit three dreamlike, freely editable islands (comparable to Minecraft's creative mode) separate from their main one.
   2. Everything, from furniture, the landscape, weather, and time of day are customizable.
   3. Supports multiplayer co-creation — friends can visit and decorate together.
6. Collaborations and Crossover Items:
   1. Nintendo Souvenir Shop Items: Retro toys and return of classic consoles (subscribers to Nintendo Switch Online can access select classic games)
   2. LEGO Collaboration with fitting furniture, wallpapers and clothing in various colors.
   3. The Legend of Zelda amiibo items: Themed furniture, fashion and new crossover characters Tulin and Mineru.
   4. Splatoon amiibo items: Themed furniture, apparel and new crossover characters Cece and Viché.

Paid Nintendo Switch 2 Update

Owners of both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Nintendo Switch 2 can purchase an upgrade pack for US$4.99 or – if they don't own the game yet – buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition for $64.99 to access the following content:

1. Visual Improvements:
   1. The game is now playable in up to 4K in TV mode and 1080p in handheld mode.
2. Joy-Con 2 Mouse Controls:
   1. User interfaces, along with item placement and decoration can now be navigated with a mouse-controlled cursor.
   2. Custom designs can be drawn this way as well.
   3. Posts on the bulletin board can be drawn this way as well
3. New Item – Megaphone:
   1. Purchasable from Nook’s Cranny.
   2. Uses the Switch 2's built-in microphone to call out residents by name and thus locate them on the island.
4. Expanded Multiplayer:
   1. If all players own the Switch 2 Edition, up to twelve players can be active per island (as opposed to the previous limit of 8).
   2. Includes in-game voice chat for communication.
5. USB-C Camera Integration:
   1. Using the Nintendo Switch 2 camera, players’ faces can appear in-game during online play, enabling real-time reactions and more social interaction.

But what do you think? Were you at all expecting such a content update to arrive at all anymore? And what could this potentially mean for the release of the next Animal Crossing? Let us know in the comments below!