Why Was Animal Crossing a Big Hit During the Pandemic?

The big question during the pandemic was “what am I going to do all day?” That was the question everyone was asking themselves after being locked up in their house all day. The next option was to fill in the time, that is when video games made a big influence on people. This is when Animal Crossing started becoming a the most popular it has ever been. People liked the feeling of escaping the world to their island to go fishing or talk to the friendly neighbors that roam around the island. Animal Crossing is well on its way to becoming the No.1 best-selling game on Nintendo Switch with 31.18 million units sold. With Animal Crossing: New Horizons, selling more than 13 million copies within its first 6 weeks of it being launched. The game managed the Nintendo Switch to boost past the new competitors, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. Making it the best selling console in 2020.

In Animal Crossing, the social interactions really caught the attention of the people that wanted to be social during the pandemic when seeing people in real life wasn’t an option. It provided social interactions and friendly neighbors to interact with. A lot of people were getting very lonely which led to a lot of mental health issues. Animal Crossing was a good way to help prevent that, because it provided the interactions people wanted and it was a very peaceful game. It’s more of game where you can build on relationships, houses/buildings, and skills when you go fishing or catch bugs and butterflies. Even though Animal Crossing was a very popular game before the pandemic, it has grown to be known by millions of people across the world.