Animal Crossing Switch delay video is a fake and whoever made it should just feel awful

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No, Nintendo didn't just announce an Animal Crossing Switch delay

Animal Crossing Switch did not just get a delay, despite a very official looking video you may have seen making the rounds. A YouTube account claiming to represent Nintendo posted the video, which features development head Shinya Takahashi delivering a sincere apology for the delay. This isn't some kind of cyberpunk-style identity spoof - it's just a new version of the video in which Takahashi announced the Metroid Prime 4 delay with some fake subtitles.

Here's the fake video:

And here's the real one. Notice any similarities? You don't need to speak Japanese to pick up on the fact that he's saying all the same stuff in the same way in (almost) the same 3:09 runtime. Update: Amusingly, they were so similar that I accidentally embedded the same fake video twice. The right one's in there now.

Nintendo confirmed a few months ago that it still planned to release Animal Crossing Switch sometime this year, despite saying nothing about the game beyond confirming its existence. That left fans of catching fish, decorating homes, and making friends with animal neighbors biting their nails for the Nintendo E3 2019 presentation. Then somebody picked up on all that hope and anticipation and decided to just poo all over it.

Granted, you've gotta respect the commitment the faker had to their project - some effort was shown here. Especially the part about Nintendo bringing in Bandai Namco to help with development. Still: shame on you for making the entire GamesRadar+ office erupt in shouts of anguish for about 3 and a half seconds. Those were some of the worst 3 and a half seconds of our lives.

Be sure to check out our comprehensive E3 2019 schedule so you can be sure to catch the actual announcements from Nintendo, and see what's big in games and entertainment this week with our latest Release Radar.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.