'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw immense success during the global lockdown of 2020, skyrocketing to unimaginable popularity. The game managed to shoot the Nintendo Switch right past its new-gen competitors in the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S to become the highest-selling console in 2020.
Nintendo made sure to be consistent with the updates and items added to the game to keep the audience engaged. Naturally, this led to fans having high hopes for the title.
However, all this success came crashing down after Nintendo's much-awaited presentation at E3 2021. Followers were expecting announcements of a big update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but all they received was a deafening silence from the company about their most popular Animal Crossing title.
This was followed by serious speculation about the state of the title and whether it was dying. All these debates and updates have brought the question at hand: is Animal Crossing: New Horizons still fun to play in 2021?
Nintendo's attempts at reviving Animal Crossing: New Horizons' status
After witnessing the community's massive disappointment after E3 2021, Nintendo made several feeble attempts at reviving players' interest in the game through some updates. However, most events and items in these updates were simply those that had been featured in the game earlier, making it unappealing to veterans of the title, although it was inclusive for newer players.
Nintendo recently released the 1.11.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with many new items such as food items and other events that the community has demanded for quite some time. While this was not the big update the community wanted, it was still better than nothing. However, even with this update, players were not satisfied since it was full of glitches.
Soon after, the developers released update 1.11.1, which did not add too many new items in the game, but it got rid of the glitches ruining the gameplay experience for players.
Even though Nintendo is beginning to show considerable effort to revive New Horizons, players aren't thoroughly convinced about these efforts. The general consensus is that the Japanese organization needs to add a lot more features to make the game interesting enough for gamers to pick it up again.
Interestingly enough, however, Animal Crossing's player base is not taking a severe hit since newer players join the community every day. However, the game is not seeing real growth in its user base since veterans are getting bored, even if newer players still find it interesting.
Clearly, Nintendo will have to do a lot more than add several items to the game to uphold its title's popularity. Although the current efforts are appreciable, they are not enough for gamers to actually be as interested in the title as before.
