![]() ![]() This also allowed greater attention to video games in the indie space that targeted a demographic outside of the usual hyper-competitive space where Triple-A titles thrived. With the shift in how video games were to be marketed during the pandemic, companies like Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox organized their own showcases and reaped the benefit of airing their own content to millions of viewers. The woes of the video game industry could not prevent the meteoric rise in popularity and commercial success of ACNH and games like it, however. Events like E3 shared details of upcoming titles, projects in the works, and console reveals, but had been experiencing a decline in attendance leading up to the pandemic. The Entertainment Software Association, known for hosting the signature trade event the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) every summer since 1995, announced for the first time they would be cancelling their in-person event back in March 2020. The game’s success had also occurred at a time when keynote presentations from video game’s biggest names suffered massive cancellations. With loose social distancing measures stymied by the increased number of COVID-19 cases, ACNH became an effective outlet for staying connected while being locked down. It became one of the best and fastest selling titles in the series, mostly stoked by stay-at-home orders and quarantine measures.Īccording to a case study by Lin Zhu, a graduate student in Educational and Methodology Psychology at University at Albany, ACNH’s social platform was the perfect response to the heightened psychological stress of the outbreak of COVID-19. However, the fifth title in the Animal Crossing series quickly took over social media, with websites and forums cropping up dedicated to helping players trade items with one another. ![]() From socializing with neighbors to fishing and collecting bugs, Animal Crossing is most celebrated for its soothing and immersive gameplay that invites creativity, collaboration, and exploration.Īnimal Crossing: New Horizons ( ACNH for short) released at an unprecedented time, with a global pandemic threatening to thwart economic growth for years to come. What separates this series of games from its contemporaries is that it lacks defined objectives and instead encourages players to explore the space they live in while engaging with villagers and completing various tasks. The series follows a human player who has just moved to a rural village or island where anthropomorphic animals, or ‘villagers’, live. Players built communities around the series that spanned various demographics and highlighted the inclusivity encouraged by the games. It reached a vast and diverse player base for its simplistic yet involved game design, as well as for its eclectic assortment of characters. The Animal Crossing series had been a staple in the family of household Nintendo titles since it first released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan over two decades ago. When Animal Crossing: New Horizons released in March 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, few could have guessed its massive success would be at all possible since, at the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic had been officially declared. ![]()
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