Do you need Nintendo Switch Online to have friends visit your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

For those enjoying Animal Crossing: New Horizons, we highly recommend grabbing the Nintendo Online subscription so your Nintendo Switch can access the internet. You will unlock multiple features available in the game, such as being able to invite friends to your island whenever you connect to the internet. Is Nintendo Online required for you to invite friends to your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Can you invite friends to your island without Nintendo Online?

Regardless if you want to join a friend’s island or invite them to theirs, you will need to a Nintendo Online subscription to play with others in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It does matter if you and your friend are a good distance away from each other trying to play the game. When you visit your island’s Airport, make sure to choose the Online Play option

However, the exception to this is through local play. You can connect if you and another New Horizons player are on the same network and near each other. The big thing for this is to be relatively close to each other, such as being in the same room. We wouldn’t recommend trying to connect to someone else if you are across the house from each other, but it might work. You can access these functions by visiting your island’s Airport and asking to do Local Play instead of Online Play.

Alternatively, there’s the single-system multiplayer where you can invite another profile on your Nintendo Switch to visit your island. Both profiles will need to be registered to the same Nintendo Switch. This is not a split-screen function. Instead, you and the other players on the same Switch will share a screen, with a leader deciding where you all go on the island and what activities you do. You will need to be in the same room as everyone.

A majority of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players will want to have a Nintendo Online subscription if you’re playing with anyone outside of your house. However, if you live with someone or share the same Nintendo Switch, visiting someone else’s island is possible without purchasing Nintendo Online.