Animal Crossing New Horizons patch fixes major issue for Nintendo Switch islanders

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Animal Crossing New Horizons has proved the perfect antidote for Nintendo Switch owners holed up inside because of the coronavirus crisis. But there's been trouble in paradise, too, which a new patch should hopefully fix.

The sedate island adventure has just received a new patch, bringing the game up to version 1.1.1. According to the notes accompanying the update, the patch:

'Fixes a major issue impacting game balance.'

What imbalance is that? The notes don't offer anything more illuminating than that single line, but many are assuming that it's designed to take away an item duplication exploit that some gamers have been taking advantage of.

Download to stay online

If you've been benefiting from the imbalance, and want to continue doing so, you're pretty much out of luck – unless you plan on taking the game offline, which means you'll be missing out on sharing your island with other players (the most fun part of the game) you're going to need to install the update.

Animal Crossing New Horizons has been a huge success for Nintendo, coming in as the second-biggest game launch on the console so far behind Pokemon Sword and Shield. If you factor in that the Pokemon titles are two separate games, Animal Crossing has surpassed them, too.

However, if you're looking to jump in and get playing on a brand new Switch console, you might be out of luck – while there is some stock of the handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite still available, the regular Nintendo Switch once again appears to be sold out almost everywhere. Keep an eye on our price tracker below for news on when new stock might appear.

Gerald Lynch

Gerald is Editor-in-Chief of iMore.com. Previously he was the Executive Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site's home cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and audio output. He loves gaming, but don't expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Before TechRadar, Gerald was Editor of Gizmodo UK. He is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press.