Animal Crossing New Horizons 3.0 Update: Nintendo Confirms Multi-Islands, Multiplayer Decor & More! (Coming January 2026)
Nintendo announced today that the Animal Crossing 3.0 update is coming on January 15th, 20226, including a new brand hotel amenity, “slumber” islands, improved multiplayer, TONS of new items, collab villagers, and MORE! And, quietly, they also announced multi-crafting in the trailer?! Is this real life?
The Animal Crossing New Horizons 3.0 Update Announcement is real! Wow, my friends. In 2021, Nintendo told us all major content updates were completed. But here we are, in 2025, experiencing this massive announcement together. Best of all, this content update is FREE for everyone, regardless of whether you have a Switch 1 or a Switch 2! The Switch 2 Upgrade version is also dropping on the same day, with upgraded graphics and a brand new megaphone item to corral your villagers.
Let’s dive into the update details in my live reaction to the trailer. You can watch it below or watch my trailer reaction directly on YouTube!
Exciting Animal Crossing New Horizons 3.0 Updates to Look Forward To:
- More Storage Upgrades:
Get up to 9000 items stored! - Ability to Store Plants in Storage:
No more hiding flowers on the beach that you want to save for later! - Resetti on the island:
He will help you clear an area quickly to get back to designing faster. Quickly rework areas and automatically send the cleaned items to your storage! - Multicrafting:
Did you see what I saw? Ability to craft more than one item at once! How great will that be for making bait?! I hope it’s accessible anywhere!
- Kapp’n & Family hotel on the island:
This is basically like a free small version of Happy Home Paradise! Design rooms for the hotel and attract villagers to stay. There seems to be a lot of new items in the souvenir shop! 👀 - Slumber Islands?! New dream island creative mode with MULTIPLAYER DECOR:
Luna has been busy making a creative-mode for us all to enjoy. I’m SUPER excited for this feature which will allow you to make 3 slumber dream islands where you can choose small, medium or large island layouts, access ALL your unlocked decor items, bring in villagers, craft inclines and bridges instantly, and more. But best of all, you can decorate with your friends! - Speaking of online friends, Switch 2 players can enjoy 12 player multiplayer, upgrading from the maximum of 8.
Switch 2 exclusive option: you can have more simultaneous players. All players must be Switch 2 for this feature. I’m so curious to learn more about this – will the fly in flow be improved? We can all dream! - So many new items.
LEGO collab, Splatoon collab, and Zelda collab offers many new items. LEGO options are available from the Nook Shopping, while the Splatoon/Zelda collab will be available via Amiibo. - Four New Villagers:
Zelda and Splatoon collab offers new villagers:- Squirrels Cece and Viché in the style of Callie and Marie from Splatoon
- Bird Tulin and Deer Mineru from the Zelda franchise
Switch 2 upgrade for 4K improved quality is just $4.99 USD. The price for this upgrade is great, but if you’re not able to purchase it, you can still enjoy the rest of the 3.0 content update without the upgrade pack. Content Update 3.0 is totally free for Switch 1 and Switch 2 players! ✨💜
What an update! What are you most looking forward to seeing in the 3.0 update? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear your excitement too! And don’t forget to share this post if you’re planning to dive into the update on January 15th, 2026!
What’s Next:
I’ll be streaming on Twitch the day the update drops, so I’ll see you over on my Twitch channel on January 15, 2026! Mark your calendars, and watch this space for further info.