Animal Crossing: New Horizons is finally just over a month away after its initial delay. Despite this, there’s still very little we actually know about the game. Bar a few questionable announcements and sporadic commercials; it’s been very much up to the community to pick apart various nuggets of information to see what might be in store for the new title. One of the things eagle-eyed fans have spotted is that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will support the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app.
Twitter user @MayorMori discovered the feature, shown in the product listing on Nintendo’s website.
It seems that Nintendo Smartphone App support is now confirmed for #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons ?
Most likely in-game voice chat.https://t.co/Ev5R0BieDS pic.twitter.com/D2MeJqZ6rt
— Mayor Mori ✈️? (@MayorMori) February 8, 2020
The NSO app has seen little attention since its initial release. Currently, only Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate support the app outside basic voice chat. The extent to which Animal Crossing: New Horizons will utilize the app is unknown.
It’s possible that Animal Crossing: New Horizons may also only support voice chat within the app. However, fans are speculating that the app could be used to scan QR codes for patterns and clothing. QR codes became immensely popular in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, with tons of sites dedicated to curating codes. With the lack of a camera on the Nintendo Switch, the implementation of QR codes has been uncertain. The app could enable people to use their smartphone camera as a replacement.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons could also utilize the app similarly to Splatoon 2. The third-person team shooter has an in-app clothing store that rotates stock more regularly than in-game. Smartphone app support could enable clothing and furniture to be mailed to the player from within the app.
For now, it’s all speculation. Unless we see a New Horizons-themed Nintendo Direct in the coming weeks, we’ll likely only find out more once the game releases. Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases on March 20th on the Nintendo Switch. There’s also a gorgeous Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed switch available.
