Nintendo’s latest hit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is making waves throughout the world right now. It is both the best-selling game of March and the third-largest launch in Nintendo’s history. One of its commercials was the most seen in the past month in the U.S. and, based on Nintendo’s spending trends, probably had the most money invested in advertising as well. Those, however, are just the waves the game is making in the industry.
Please note: The videos and streams linked below may contain explicit language.
On a societal level, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is reaching a zeitgeist level never achieved by the franchise. There are a number of contributing factors as to why this particular entry has had such widespread adoption compared to previous entries. The fanbase has always been very strong for the series, but it was always relatively niche by comparison. This particular release has come along at a time that was a bit of a perfect storm of a strong platform in the Nintendo Switch, heavy advertising by Nintendo, and having a large portion of the population unable to go out, a point that even John Oliver joked about in a bit during this week’s Last Week Tonight.
That widespread interest has garnered unusual amounts of attention from social media and content creators. We have already covered crossover content of fans who have recreated the world map from A Link to the Past, created their own dungeon, and are sharing their custom designs as well. Outside of Zelda-focused content, Animal Crossing players have started a number of in-game activities, reality shows, and podcasts.
xwater on Twitch has started an in-game version of Deal or No Deal which he has been running for three weeks now with his friends and fellow-steamers. Likewise, a fellow Twitch streamer, Dragon Feeney, has started a multi-week in-game version of the hit CBS show Survivor. A number of podcasts have had episodes “recorded live” from in-game including Warp World Podcast who, in particular, have been filming from in-game for over a month now and have even included guests who join them “on set.”
In that same vein, co-writer of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gary Whitta, has recently decided to start a talk show from in-game as well. This includes a full set with studio lights, mics, drum kit, A/V hardware, and of course, a desk and couch. Guests thus far include Naomi Kyle, Raquel Lily, and most recently, Felicia Day. Gary would be happy to have other celebrities who are known to be playing such as Elijah Wood and he has a lead on getting NBA star, Steph Curry, to be a guest on the show, but there is one person in particular he’s also set his sights on right now.
It makes sense that Reggie would be an ideal guest for a talk show taking place in Animal Crossing. Reggie has long let it be known that he enjoys playing Animal Crossing and played Animal Crossing: New Leaf on his Nintendo 3DS very often. He also showed that he had picked up Animal Crossing: New Horizons fairly early as well. We do not know at this time if Reggie will be able to join Gary for an episode of his talk show or not. He is, of course, quite busy with all his post-retirement responsibilities these days.
There is always a chance, though:
