In September 2018, Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing would be making its way to the Switch. Fans of the game were understandably excited about Animal Crossing finally joining the Switch family. At E3 2019 Nintendo confirmed that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has a release date set for March 20, 2020. While waiting almost an entire year seems like agony, there are already new details about the new Animal Crossing being released. One of those details is that the game will not support cloud saves.
Throughout all of its years, there have been quite a few known ways for players to get ahead in the game. One of these tricks is time traveling. Whether you missed out on an in-game holiday you want to go back and experience or you simply want some more fish to catch, time-traveling has come in handy for Animal Crossing players for years and could usually be done by simply changing the in-game clock.
This workaround will no longer be available on the Nintendo Switch version of Animal Crossing as the game will not be compatible with cloud saves. Cloud backup is an included feature in Nintendo Switch Online which gives players peace of mind knowing that their progress is safe. Most games have the ability to be used with cloud saves, however, there are a few that don’t. Adding onto that list is Animal Crossing.
Nintendo Deputy General Manager and producer of Animal Crossing, Higashi Nogami shared in an interview with the French gaming website Gamekult that the decision not to include saves in Animal Crossing: New Horizons was to prevent time manipulation.
https://youtu.be/QsrB6v_hvg0
This decision has left a lot of Switch owners and Animal Crossing players conflicted. If you’ve played Animal Crossing at some point in your life, you’re aware that without using time-traveling, Animal Crossing is a game that happens in real-time.
Meaning that holidays, seasons and events occurring in the game happen just as they do in the real world, a few times, or even only once a year. If someone had a lot of progress in Animal Crossing and then something happened to their Nintendo Switch, or if a new model is released down the line and they cannot transfer their game data, they’d understandably upset about it.
On the other hand, not including cloud save services with Animal Crossing means that players will have to play the game as its meant to be played and enjoy it as it’s meant to be enjoyed.
