Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 3.0 Update Drops Early As Fans Race Back To Their Islands

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 3.0 update is out now—a day earlier than expected for many players. While the free update is out now, the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade is still unavailable, and likely won’t be out until that version’s official release date of January 15.

The reason the 3.0 update dropped early is assumed to be because it’s already January 15 in certain time zones, like New Zealand. The paid Switch 2 upgrade, though, is seemingly tied to timing in different regions; once it hits midnight where you are, it’ll be available for purchase. To access the free update, just update your Animal Crossing: New Horizons game from the Switch homepage. Once the game launches, you’ll know the update is live because Isabelle will shout out the new hotel opening.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 3.0 is NOW AVAILABLE for download on Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2! 🎉 🎉 🎉 pic.twitter.com/ukHHOS1HJC

— Animal Crossing World 🏝️ (@ACWorldBlog) January 14, 2026

Fans have been prepping for months ahead of the content update, which was announced late last year. The announcement itself was a huge surprise—Nintendo’s 2.0 update was the last major release in 2021, and was widely expected to be the last update for the game. The new update adds a bunch of new content, like the Kapp’n family hotel, located on the pier.

But players are also excited for quality-of-life updates that make the whole experience better, like bulk crafting and the Resetti clean-up service for quickly resetting portions of the island. The Switch 2 upgrade uses the new console’s hardware capabilities to support mouse controls and larger multiplayer groups.