Animal Crossing: New Horizons Will Seemingly Stop Functioning in 2061

If you're planning on playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons for decades longer, just be aware that the game will seemingly stop functioning in 2061.

A Reddit post by user AdTrue4863 (spotted by Nintendo Life) seemingly shows that anyone who plays the game for another 39 years (or who does 39 years' worth of cheating by moving the internal clock forward) will be forced to set their Switch's clock back to keep playing.

Nintendo seemingly actually condones this form of time travel though, as the message actually tells players to restart Animal Crossing after setting a date between January 2000 and December 2060. Somewhat oddly, it therefore appears the game can't function outside of this 60 year period – it's not immediately clear why.

A new Animal Crossing game is likely on the way given the success of New Horizons though, so it's unlikely fans will need to stick to this version for that long. That being said, people are mostly playing older games this year, including Animal Crossing, so at least the option is there for those who love their islands enough to return for decades to come.

Nintendo has released five mainline games in the franchise over the last twenty years, starting with 2001's Animal Crossing on GameCube that IGN said was amazing. The longest gap of seven years was between New Leaf on 3DS and New Horizons on Switch, though a new entry typically arrives every three or four years.

In our 9/10 review of the latest, IGN said: "Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an expanded, polished, next-generation reboot of a classic Nintendo game that's full of surprises."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.