Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates could be delayed due to coronavirus

Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates could be delayed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, also causing logistic issues in Japan, the development team has revealed.

The game is a popular life sim from Nintendo. It has beaten Doom Eternal in its first week in the United Kingdom charts while achieving 3.5x sales compared to the previous game in the franchise, New Leaf.

According to director Aya Kyogoku, who discussed the matter in an interview with The Washington Post, development on updates “is still going,” even though the short and middle-term future is uncertain.

“We’re not sure if we have to shift anything, but I think we have to be flexible,” Kyogoku commented, hinting at a possibility of smart working being applied shortly.

It’s worth noting that Nintendo employees are still working at their offices, differently from other Western companies that have adhered to the latest stay at a home policy that allows workers to do their job in the safety of their houses.

Producer Hisashi Nogami has acknowledged that “in terms of the development team, I do have to think about their health and well-being as well.” The company has changed working hours so that employees can travel to their offices away from rush hour train traffic.

Workforce and timing have always been something the development team at Nintendo has cared about, as shown by the recent reveal that the latest game in the franchise began development in 2012, right after the release of New Leaf.

More aggressive measures could be applied shortly, and that could have an impact on updates in the pipeline for New Horizons.

According to the Johns Hopkins university’s map, Japan has only faced little over 1,000 COVID-19 cases. The emergency has yet to explode, differently from Europe, and could be contained before reaching such heights.