Seemingly New Animal Crossing House Was Shown by Mistake

With the new title update for the Nintendo Switch’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons releasing very soon, rumors have been circulating online since the development team shared new photos about the seasonal events and items on the game’s official website. These rumors talked about new villagers possibly arriving alongside the incoming patch. However, the developers themselves have been speedy to lay these rumors to rest, confirming that shared photos were a mistake, and that newcomers to the island will not be part of the intended ACNH April 28 update.

Since its launch in 2019, the team behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been very intentional with most of their content updates, providing fans with sneak peeks and teasers that lets them know what to expect. Save for the occasional Animal Crossing: New Horizons leak or rumor, the game's online community seems to find no need to dig deeper into the game's backend, given that the devs have been very transparent about what is to come for the highly-popular life simulation title.

In the official Japanese website, a new post directly addressed the rumors about possible incoming new villagers. This rumor stemmed from a screenshot that showcased a villager house facade that does not belong to anyone in the whole roster of Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers. Roughly translated on Google, the official post gave an apology to the game's fans, stating that the house exterior was not something found in the game, and that the posting of the image had been a mistake.

The screenshot that was unintentionally uploaded has since been taken down, once it was discovered by the development team. The image was mainly supposed to promote the new seasonal Children's Day items, which will be implemented in the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons April update. The April update will also have other seasonal items to celebrate a variety of smaller celebrations such as Mother's Day, and even Cheese Rolling.

Though fans may not see new villagers on their island this April, there are still other Animal Crossing: New Horizons events that they can look forward to. This includes May Day where players can meet with Rover again, Blathers's International Museum Day, and Wedding Season, which seems like it will be implementing new wedding decor, and even traditional Japanese-inspired wedding attire. All in all, Nintendo still has a lot of content in store for its fans and players, which hopefully the community will enjoy and appreciate.

Over a year after Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ release, the world was treated to the announcement of an Animal Crossing and Build-A-Bear collaboration. Tom Nook and Isabelle Build-A-Bears went on sale shortly after the announcement with stock selling out at an incredible pace. After only a few hours of being live, all versions had sold out. This trend of highly sought-after goods, particularly items related to gaming, selling out had pretty much been the norm throughout 2020 and seems to have continued into 2021.

In truth, this problem does not have a single major fault. It is the domino effect of multiple factors, a fact that does not change the disheartening nature for many fans. Right now, Build-A-Bear does have the Animal Crossing Build-A Bears marked as coming back soon on its website, with a new addition to the collection expected to release by summer. This may provide some hope for fans that want to get hands-on with the items, but it is a band-aid on a problem that needs stitches.