Nintendo quietly rolled out the long-anticipated Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update a day ahead of schedule, giving players an early invitation back to their islands. The free content drop (live January 14 for many players) brings a surprisingly deep set of additions — the headline being Kapp'n's Family Hotel — and a parallel Switch 2 edition that polished visuals and expanded multiplayer.
Why this update matters
After years of incremental additions and a long-ago promise that big free updates were done, 3.0 feels like a small course correction: more tools for creativity, better social play, and a handful of conveniences that smooth out the game’s rough edges. For casual returnees and long-term island architects alike, there’s now reason to boot the game and poke around again.
What’s in 3.0 (the short list)
- Kapp'n's Family Hotel on the pier, where you can decorate themed guest rooms, earn Hotel Tickets, and expand Gram's souvenir shop.
- Slumber Islands: a creative, collaborative dream-space you access through Luna's nap menu; build and play with friends without affecting your main island.
- Resetti's Reset Service: clean up—or wipe—sections of your island (first day free; scheduled price 60,000 bells per use).
- Massive storage expansion (up to 9,000 items) and the ability to store plants and flowers.
- LEGO® items, plus new crossovers with The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon; LEGO goods are purchasable via Nook Shopping.
- Switch 2 edition: improved visuals, mouse controls, GameChat, and an increased online player cap (12 on Switch 2).
- Check your mailbox for Luna's Slumber Islands note, then head to the pier and say hello to the hotel crew.
- Decorate one or two rooms right away — guests arrive immediately and you’ll earn Hotel Tickets to spend.
- Talk to Resetti if you want a quick cleanup (remember: first day free). If you’re into crafting, the hotel’s DIY requests reward bulk crafting.
- If you own a Switch 2, try mouse controls in Decorating Mode; they make fine placement less fiddly.
Those bullet points don’t capture the little moments: the mannequins in the hotel lobby that visitors can don, the small thrill of a guest arriving the moment you finish a room, or the relief of being able to stash flowers in storage instead of digging up hundreds of stems.
Kapp'n's Family Hotel — how it works
The hotel pops up on your southern pier (the same corner that used to host Kapp'n's boat). Tom Nook and Kapp'n’s relatives run the place, and your job is essentially the same fun you might remember from Happy Home Paradise: pick a theme, use the Recommended items tab to grab furniture (the game even suggests pieces you don’t own), arrange the room in Decorating Mode, and take a photo to represent the space.
Each finished room nets Hotel Tickets you can spend at Gram's storefront; complete rooms unlock more catalog items and new daily DIY requests for extra tickets. There’s also a merchandising twist: Leilani lets you set lobby outfits on mannequins so visiting players (and animal guests) can try on island uniforms during their stay.
If you like step-by-step help, IGN and guide writers have already laid out practical workflows for unlocking rooms and making the most of Gram’s shop — but the basic joy here is the same as it’s always been: designing spaces that feel distinctly yours.
Slumber Islands and sandbox building
If creative freedom is your jam, Slumber Islands are the update’s quiet star. Accessed through sleeping with Luna, these islands are essentially a temporary creative mode: build, rearrange terrain, and invite friends to collaborate without touching your main island’s data. Save up to three designs and invite other players to hang out, which makes it a neat way to test event layouts or host mini get-togethers.
Quality-of-life: Resetti, storage and small wins
Resetti’s return as a paid (but first-day-free) island-cleaning service is a big time-saver if you want to clear overgrown areas or reset a plaza to scratch; be warned it picks up everything in the swept zone, so furniture you planned to keep will be moved into storage too. The big storage boost to 9,000 items — plus storing live plants and flowers — is one of those changes you don’t realize you needed until it’s there.
The Switch 2 edition and pricing
Nintendo launched the Switch 2 edition alongside the free 3.0 content. The new version brings updated graphics, mouse support for decorating (useful in the hotel), GameChat functionality, and increases the local online party size to 12 players on Switch 2. Existing owners on Switch 2 can get the upgraded edition for a small fee (Nintendo priced the upgrade modestly), while first-time buyers will pick up the Switch 2 version at the normal game price.
With Nintendo riding momentum from the new hardware, it’s easy to see why the company is adding features that lean into the Switch 2’s strengths — everything from visuals to community play benefits. For a broader look at how the game fits into Nintendo’s recent moves, see the company’s shift around the Switch 2 launch and performance in this piece on the Switch 2 release and update and the console’s wider sales surge in Nintendo's Switch 2 forecast update.
Tips for your first hour back
Nintendo made the update easy to grab: highlight the New Horizons icon on your Switch home screen and download the software update when prompted. For many players this will feel like reopening an old, well-loved book — same characters, a few new chapters, and a handful of fresh pages to doodle on.
Whether you’re back to host new friends at a seaside hotel or just curious to try a Slumber Island build, 3.0 gives you a lot to explore. And if you get stuck, the community and countless how-to guides are already digging into the details — which, in Animal Crossing terms, is half the fun.