Nintendo addresses Animal Crossing: New Horizons new villager house rumours

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Unfortunately, it was too good to be true.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Punchy
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Update: Nintendo has since confirmed that this house design does not appear in the actual game and apologized for the mix-up.

In an updated blog post (translated via Google), Nintendo said that the items shown off as part of the upcoming Children's Day "reflected a house with an appearance that could not appear in the actual game, so the corresponding screen was replaced." That's likely to mean no new houses, and no new villagers.

Original: An eagle-eyed Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan has noticed a new house design that doesn’t seem to belong to any of the current villagers.

In a photo that was shared by Nintendo when announcing the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons update 2.0 we can see a green and terracotta-colored house which doesn’t seem to belong to any of the current villagers in the game. 

One theory is that the Animal Crossing: New Horizons may be introducing some new villagers soon, as one Reddit user suggests: “This house in the update teaser does not appear to match the houses of any of the existing 497 villagers in New Horizons. Does this mean we're having another new villager?”

Animal Crossing: New Horizons mystery house

(Image credit: Nintendo)

According to Animal Crossing World, the arrival of a new villager could make sense - a recent dig into Nintendo’s Amiibo data revealed a large gap in registered cards/figures that may hint towards potentially 103 new Amiibos being manufactured for one of Nintendo’s many IPs. What hints at it being Animal Crossing related is the number of gaps available and the amount of villagers there are already in-game.

Nintendo did previously re-release its Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sanrio Amiibo items and made them compatible with the Nintendo Switch. These items - and themed villagers - are only obtainable via a set of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sanrio Amiibo cards, which were so popular they sold out within seconds on release. 

This re-release could be due to Nintendo wanting to utilize its Amiibo technology more in the game, especially considering villagers that were introduced in New Horizons are yet to get their own Amiibo cards.

Fans will have to wait for more information about any new additions until Nintendo makes an official announcement, but they can also look forward to everything else the Animal Crossing: New Horizons update 2.0 has to offer. That includes bringing back the upcoming Spring events: Animal Crossing: New Horizons May Day Tour, Wedding Season, International Museum Day, as well as some new seasonal items too. 

Find out what NPCs we think should make a return to the game in our missing Animal Crossing: New Horizons characters list.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.