Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2026 updates: everything we learned from Nintendo

The dual updates for Animal Crossing: New Horizons are almost here, and a recent hands-off online press event showcased some of the new features in both the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and version 3.0 update. The former is full of improvements that take advantage of the Switch 2’s more advanced hardware, with things like increased multiplayer options and mouse controls, while the latter includes a host of new content, like a customizable beachside hotel.

Both are scheduled to be released on Jan. 15, 2026, with the 3.0 update being available to both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 owners. For players that already own New Horizons, they’ll be able to purchase a Switch 2 upgrade for $4.99. Though the presentation didn’t give an entirely complete picture of what fans can expect come January, it was very hype-inducing nonetheless.

Here are the biggest changes coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in its big January 2026 updates.

Making the island a tourist destination

Kapp’n still sits at the end of the dock waiting to whisk players away on a boat tour, but now his family members populate the hotel lobby. His wife Leilani is the proprietor of the hotel, and she’s who players will talk to when they want to decorate a new hotel room, 10 of which seem to be able to exist at a time.

Unlike Happy Home Paradise, players aren’t designing a hotel room with a specific guest in mind. Rather, they can now pick from a long list of themes like Kiddie, Ranch, or Dreamy to steer their artistic visions — if you build it, they will come. We saw a quick demonstration of building a room with the Simple theme, which is basically identical to the process in HHP. Decorating works here just as it does there, except without room-size editing tools, and alongside a player’s full catalog, the hotel can supply extra furniture fitting the theme under the Recommended section.

In the lobby, players will also find two mannequins, which can be used to set a style for visitors. There are some aspects of the hotel system, like how villagers are attracted to it in the first place, that are still somewhat unclear, but once villagers have arrived they can be found wandering around players’ islands freely. We ran into Zell as a tourist during the preview, and he was clad in the very same sweater I’d seen in the lobby. Unfortunately, unlike campsite visitors, these tourists can’t be invited by the player to live on their island permanently.

Tickets, tasks, and hotel-exclusive items

Designing rooms will earn players Hotel Tickets, which can be used to buy the many new items only available from Gran in the lobby. We weren’t told just how many new objects would be a part of the new update, but even just a quick scroll through her catalog showed off a very large amount of furniture, ranging from new sets like Kiddie to objects like houseplants and shelves.

New items like the retro Nintendo ones, which include things like Ultra Hand and playable NES games, are also only available through the hotel ordering system. There are several in-game NES variants, all of which have one playable game (the presentation briefly showed Ice Climbers) that requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to use.

For a faster way to earn Hotel Tickets, players can submit to Kapp’n’s item box requests, which will ask for a certain amount of craftable furniture. Players might remember that it was this system that, in the initial trailer, showed the addition of batch crafting to the game, but when I asked if said batch crafting could also now pull from storage, a representative told me they’d “rather players discover that for themselves.”

Slumber Islands and Game Chat

Though Slumber Islands, a dreamy new collaborative decorating experience done through Luna, isn’t exclusive to the Switch 2 update, a few of its auxiliary features are, with the presentation specifically highlighting the integration of Game Chat. For groups where everyone is playing on a Switch 2, the max number of players on a Slumber Island also increases from eight to 12, though we didn’t see that scale in the preview.

Two of the presenters logged on together, with one of them hosting and the other joining in a system very similar to visiting islands via Dodo Airlines (in that same vein, players can either locate a dream through their friends list or a Doze Code). Game Chat gave the pair a small video feed of their camera over their villager and allowed the two to chat in a more connective way while going about island construction, which is what Slumber Islands are all about.

There are three different sizes of island players can choose from: a large one that’s comparable to the regular island, a medium one, and a small one that's about half the size of the large one. Full terraforming tools are at players’ disposal (with two players terraforming side-by-side handled easily by the system in the preview), and they can consult Lloyd to freely build bridges and inclines.

Much like in 2021’s Happy Home Paradise DLC, players can pull infinitely from their personal catalog of items to decorate with, and also have access to any plants they’ve encountered. Current villagers can be placed on Slumber Islands as a sort of interactive decor, á la Harv’s Island, and the time of day and weather can be adjusted.

One of the presenters joked that “what happens on Slumber Island stays on Slumber Island” in reference to how the feature will impact players' existing characters and islands. Items picked up in multiplayer won’t be added to one’s catalog, for example, and Slumber Islands are specifically saved to the Nintendo Switch Online account of the owner that set them up initially.

New collaboration items

The preview also showed off the three new collaboration item sets for The Legend of Zelda series, Splatoon series, and Lego. Each had a dedicated room in the preview villager’s home, and the most impressive of the three was arguably the Lego set, which easily filled out the entire basement level — compared to two side rooms featuring the other themes — with everything from lounging surfaces to an arcade cabinet (it’s unclear how playable it will be, but likely not to the same level as the aforementioned NES games).

All three sets were exciting, though, and the presentation briefly showed off a few of the interactive items that are included, including a squid punching bag and a Decayed Guardian that lights up and moves a bit when touched. The Splatoon and Zelda sets require certain IP-related amiibo to unlock, but the Lego set will be available through the Nook Shopping app.

Switch 2 quality-of-life improvements

The presentation highlighted a few of the Nintendo Switch 2 updates, focusing on mouse controls and the new megaphone tool. The mouse functionality was shown off in a few different contexts, with decorating up first. The click-and-drag tool for selecting multiple furniture items seems much more intuitive to use, and it looks like the feature in general will make decorating feel more reminiscent of something like The Sims 4 on a computer than ever before.

Next was pattern creation via mouse; I must admit, as someone who's terrible at pattern creation, that I don’t know if this feature will magically make me competent at design. However, it does look easier and less tedious than utilizing analog sticks, and for those who are good at patterns it will likely be a game changer. In a similar vein (though not beholden to the grid pattern), the last example was of the bulletin board, where the mouse makes community doodles and messages easier.

The other main quality-of-life feature shown off was the megaphone, a new device that, when held, allows players to track down villagers and visiting NPCs. This is something that seems especially handy for visitors like Saharah or Celeste who can be tricky to track down. The tool works by players saying a name into the Switch 2’s microphone, which unfortunately didn’t work properly a single time it was attempted in the preview. It’s unclear if this could’ve been impacted in any way by the tech set-up behind the presentation, but hopefully the final version works better.

Overall, the new hotel features and expanded catalog seem incredibly robust; seeing the collaboration items in slightly more depth made me feel much more invested in acquiring them than I previously had been; and the tech showed good promise overall in handling things like the new multiplayer options and shorter loading times. Though the preview certainly didn’t answer all of my questions, it did leave me very excited for January nevertheless.