A new upgrade for Nook's Cranny in Animal Crossing: New Horizons may be coming sometime in 2022. Although Nintendo recently announced there would be no more major updates for the game after the large Animal Crossing 2.0 update, the game has received a few minor ones since then, indicating that smaller additions will likely continue for the massively popular game. Since its release in 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become one of the best-selling Nintendo games of all time with over 32 million copies sold.
In previous entries in the Animal Crossing series, players are able to upgrade Nook's Cranny three times, while in New Horizons the store can currently only receive one. Typically, the final upgrade would result in a large, elegant storefront with multiple stories. Other upgrades of public buildings exist in the game's universe - the Resident Services building and the island's Museum also receive upgrades in Animal Crossing: New Horizons after certain requirements are met. Players can place Nook's Cranny and the Museum wherever they'd like, given that the area can fit an outlined border of the building provided by the game.
A recent video by Animal Crossing Youtuber MayorMori speculates that there is a good chance Nook's Cranny will receive another available upgrade in 2022. The main argument in this theory is the outlines that come with placing a building in the game - the size of them reflects how large of a plot the final version of the building will require, and not its initial form at the time of placement. The current size of a fully-upgraded Nook's Cranny does not utilize the entire plot size indicated in the placement outline, meaning the building has space to grow. Additionally, datamines - which in the past have correctly predicted several new Animal Crossing additions - have found mention of a third Nook's upgrade in the game's code. The last, albeit weakest part of the theory, involves the current interior of the shop: players have long conjectured that the stairs in the righthand corner of Nook's Cranny are a hint to a future second story.
The most credible parts of this theory are the plot size the store sits on and the datamined information. Every building in the game has followed the pattern of eventually matching its large plot outline except for Nook's Cranny which is a questionable deviation, and the credibility established by the accuracy of past datamines can't be overlooked. Some players may be dubious about this upgrade due to Nintendo's announcement about an end of major updates, however, they haven't stopped updates entirely. There have already been multiple updates that added small amounts of content to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the sole addition of a new Nook's Cranny upgrade would be considered by most to be less than major.
Of course, it's easy for Animal Crossing: New Horizons players who are hungry for new content to buy into a theory such as this one, but in this instance, it's not simply a fringe theory - there are multiple points of potential evidence to back up the idea. If the theory is true, players still have no way of knowing when the new feature would be released for the game and may be waiting a long time. Regardless of the claim's veracity, the fact that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has continued to receive small changes after the 2.0 update is enough to make players hopeful for the game's future.
Source: MayorMori/Youtube