Build-A-Bear Workshop has revealed that it's introducing a new line of craftable companions into its store based on Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo’s endearing life sim series features a number of fan favorites, from villagers to NPCs, all of whom would make delightful candidates for the new set of stuffed animals. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is nearly a year old, having been released in March 20, 2020 and quickly becoming one the most popular title in the series. With the game’s success, it's little surprise that the plushie retailer would be interested in a collaboration.
This March has seen many players jump back into Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s island life to celebrate another beloved Nintendo franchise, Super Mario Bros. The game’s big springtime update became available to download in late February but only released its anticipated series of Mario-themed content into the world on March 1. This included special costumes that allow players to cosplay as Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Wario, house decorations worthy of the Mushroom Kingdom, and unique objects like warp pipes and coins that can be sprinkle across one's island. The teleportation-enabling warp pipe, in particular, has become a fan favorite, as it opens the already wide possibilities on players' islands even more.
Fans of the game can look forward to bringing some of Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ inhabitants to life soon according to Build-A-Bear’s Twitter account. The post from earlier today, while enthusiastic, is a bit light on tangible details. It states vaguely that the upcoming collection will entice fans of the game whether young or old and offers a link to the retailer’s website. The site is about as informative as the social media message with no news on which villagers will be included and no real sense of when the Animal Crossing: New Horizons collection would become available. Both the post and website point interested fans to sign up to get future announcements via email. Though timeframe is unclear, Build-A-Bear’s post emphasizes that the game’s characters will be coming soon.
Running into its second year, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has managed to retain a dedicated fanbase with various events and content drops keeping players coming back to the island. However, most have long since completed the game’s main objectives, leaving fans with little to do. It is possible that Nintendo would get some of these players back by shaking things up and introducing new core content, but the company has not indicated it would be making any major changes.
The Build-A-Bear collaboration will hopefully offer Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans a fun, novel way to connect with the game. However, many Twitter commenters, while excited, point out the issues the company has had in the past with novelty offerings selling out extremely quickly. Additionally, the store is still being severely impacted by the pandemic which is keeping many locations closed – though the retailer does offer a delivery service in some places. Hopefully, the company is able to get adorable, stuffed villagers to the game’s fans soon and without problems.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Build-A-Bear