How many islands can you own per Switch in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have a limitation to the number of islands they can have per Switch console (Image via Animal Crossing World)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have a limitation to the number of islands they can have per Switch console (Image via Animal Crossing World)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released by Nintendo back in March 2020, right as the world was closing down due to a global pandemic. The title has gained fans worldwide in the two years since its release, and fans can't seem to get enough of it.

However, there are several technical questions about the game with respect to the console that some players do not have answers to so far. One of the most common questions is the number of Animal Crossing islands players can have on a single Switch device.


Players can have one Animal Crossing: New Horizons island on a Switch console

One of the main things required of New Horizons players in the Nintendo life-simulation title is to create and design beautiful islands for them and other villagers to stay on.

Naturally, players would love the opportunity to design multiple islands sporting different themes in the game. However, Nintendo has confirmed that players will only be able to access one New Horizons island per Nintendo Switch console.

Players must note that this restriction is valid across the entire Switch console and not simply to one island per user profile. If players have multiple user profiles on one Switch console, they will only be able to access the same island regardless of the profile they use to log into the game.

This feature has really disappointed many players, who were hoping that it could be a feature that Nintendo decides to change in a future update.

However, with the arrival of the 2.0 update, players can be completely sure that this feature will never be implemented in New Horizons. This is simply because, with the release of the 2.0 update, Nintendo confirmed that it was the final major free update to the game, and players could only expect minor updates and patch fixes for the game moving forward.

Furthermore, players can only access one island per Switch console in the earlier Animal Crossing titles as well, making it highly unlikely that Nintendo will change course with New Horizons.

Players can, however, design many different kinds of island homes for their villagers using the Happy Home Paradise paid DLC in the game, which was added with the 2.0 update.

Although players have to go to some extent to unlock every feature available in the DLC, it can be quite interesting to design different island homes for different kinds of villagers. Nintendo, however, has confirmed that this will be the only paid DLC added to New Horizons, crushing any hopes of multiple islands being made available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons at any point in the future.

Should Nintendo add more island owning-options to ACNH? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

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