On March 20, 2020, something weird happened. A video game, of all things, became a symbol of the fight against COVID-19.
Coming into 2020, Nintendo, one of the “Big Three” video game console makers along with Sony and Microsoft, was celebrating a minor victory. It had just sold more lifetime units of its flagship handheld console hybrid device, the Switch, than Microsoft’s Xbox One, making Nintendo the number-two best-selling console manufacturer in the world.
Fifty-three million people owned a Switch worldwide, and the 2019 holiday season had been particularly good to the company. The recently-released Pokémon Sword and Shield, the first mainline Pokémon game to hit the Switch since the console’s release in 2017, sold 16 million copies, providing a big boost in Switch sales as well.
But as the holiday season waned and whispers of a new, deadly virus started to get louder, that momentum was threatened. Their first-party release lineup for the year primarily consisted of a remaster of a Wii game, Xenoblade Chronicles, a special Mario 35th anniversary package, and a remake of Pikmin 3. Nothing that exactly screamed “tent- pole release.” Oh, and the Entertainment, Planning and Development Group No. 5, led by veteran director Aya Kyogoku, was putting the finishing touches on a new Animal Crossing title. The planned date of release: March 20, 2020.