Animal Crossing: New Horizons
You might remember it as New Horizons
This spread through many posts rather than one canonical upload.
The island everybody moved to in the spring of 2020.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- ACNH
- Spread in
- 2020
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Made by
- Nintendo
- Record
- An estimated five million digital copies in March 2020, the most for any console game in one month
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
Released three days after lockdowns began, it became where people held birthdays, weddings, protests and campaign rallies. The clearest single artefact of the first months of the pandemic internet.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A game released as stay-at-home orders spread sold nearly twelve million copies in twelve days. People held weddings, funerals and graduations in it.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
The game is released worldwide.1
- Record
Nintendo counts 11.77 million copies sold.1 What else happened on 31 March
- Later
Sales reach 26 million in six months.1
- Later
Nintendo issues guidelines banning political use of the game, after an American presidential campaign and Hong Kong protesters had both used it.1
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. No copy is held here — what it was, when it spread and what people called it is what this page can tell you.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things