Most successful Nintendo Switch game this decade is launching as Lego soon

Mike Lowe
·2 min read
Lego Animal Crossing.
Lego Animal Crossing.

The most successful Nintendo Switch game of this decade, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – which launched in 2020 and has sold almost 43 million copies in the years since – is set to appear in a whole new format: official Lego!

It was long rumoured that Lego Animal Crossing was going to launch, since back in August of this year, but now the cat is out of the bag thanks to an official Nintendo of America Tweet/X post, showing off everyone's favourite characters in Lego form.

Nintendo and Lego have long collaborated, too, with Lego Mario an already established classic, while wider videogame tie-ins are no stranger: I built Lego's Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone last year, which was heaps of fun and still lives proudly on the mantle by my home's front window.

I've watched the animated Tweet below numerous times, and whilst the trademark is listed as 2023, there's no official release date stated as to when the Lego Animal Crossing sets will be released – as it's widely assumed there will be many in addition to the Minifigs – although rumours are suggesting the wait could be into spring of 2024.

But if you're an Animal Crossing: New Horizons player then that's hardly going to seem like a long time. After all, you need heaps of patience and lots of perseverance to play this game hour upon hour, tinkering your dwellings into their best form. Building the Lego equivalent will probably be over in a flash by comparison.

Nintendo is having a major year so far. Outside of this Lego collab, we've seen the arrival of the Zelda sequel, to much critical acclaim, and there are rumours that a Nintendo Switch 2 has already been shown off to developers – which would support that a 2024 launch is possible.

But rather than obsess over Nintendo's next console, right now it's all about the love for Tom Nook and co, in their Lego forms of course, which has already got fans the world over shouting "take my bells!". It seems there's no stopping Lego and Nintendo's powerful collaborations. Or Nintendo's sheer power when it comes to videogames – I can't wait to play Super Mario Bros: Wonder later this month too.