After laying dormant for over a decade, the most recent Nintendo Direct announced that the Tomodachi series is coming back. The Mii-based social simulation games are weird in the best way, which the first trailer did not shy away from. The release window of the next title, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, has been revealed to be sometime in 2026. While this is great news for fans of Tomodachi Life games, this announcement might mean that Nintendo's other popular social simulation series, Animal Crossing, will sit on the shelf far longer than fans had hoped.
While they have some very distinct points of appeal, Tomodachi Life and Animal Crossing occupy similar niches in Nintendo's overall catalog. News on 2025 and 2026 games planned for the Switch 2 rather than the original Switch is still forthcoming, but the announcement of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream could nonetheless be a sign that Animal Crossing won't arrive anytime soon.
How Similar Are Tomodachi Life & Animal Crossing?
Both Are First-Party Social Simulation Titles By Nintendo
In spirit, Tomodachi Life and Animal Crossing are similar series. Both feature an island or town filled with quirky characters, in which you create a character that looks like yourself (if you prefer) and interacts day-to-day with other residents in seemingly mundane activities. Both series allow the player to build relationships with NPCs by giving gifts and speaking with them regularly. Players can decorate around the town or island to their liking, and both series even use real-time clocks that affect in-game events or NPC behavior.
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The similarities are even stronger with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as both series now take place on islands. In essence, the experiences are very similar in regards to their wacky characters and their focus on life simulation. However, there are massive gameplay differences that set the series apart. Tomodachi Life gives the player far more control over the residents of their island, as they can edit and control the Miis living in their community at will, unlike the preset Villagers that come to live with the player in Animal Crossing.
Romance is another major factor of Tomodachi Life, as Miis can become smitten with each other, start dating, have awkward love triangles, and even get married. Animal Crossing never goes quite as far, which sets the two series apart despite their surface-level similarities, as Villagers usually limit themselves to shyly mentioning maybe having a crush on another resident. Gameplay-wise, Animal Crossing is more built around players ing their Villagers in everyday life to enjoy fishing and crafting, while Tomodachi Life allows players to observe the absurdity of human behaviors while meddling with their Miis' daily lives.
Why I'm Worried The Next Animal Crossing Game Won't Release Anytime Soon
Players Might Have To Wait Until At Least 2028 For The Next Game
Nintendo recently announced in March 2025 Nintendo Direct that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will debut sometime in 2026. The last Tomodachi game, Tomodachi Life, came out in 2014 in North America, which left its fate uncertain for a number of years. This gap makes the reveal of a sequel great news for fans of the Mii-based series, but it might spell out disappointment for anyone hoping the next Animal Crossing game will come out sooner rather than later.
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Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a first-party social simulation game, just like the titles in the Animal Crossing series. That means with the next Tomodachi coming sometime in 2026, it seems less likely that Nintendo will release another first-party social simulation game in the same year. This could easily push a Animal Crossing: New Horizons into 2027 or even later. While this speculation does lead to some disappointing conclusions for Animal Crossing players, it's not an entirely unexpected timeline.
New Leaf on the Nintendo 3DS came out in 2012 and New Horizons dropped in 2020, which is an eight-year gap between games. That long stretch was the biggest gap between games in the series, so such a long development period does have precedent, but most were hoping the next game wouldn't take quite as long. Since game development takes much longer nowadays than ever before, waiting almost a decade for the next game wouldn't be a surprise, but the massive success of New Horizons might have led to hope that Nintendo would expedite the next Animal Crossing game.
