The surprising history of LEGO and Animal Crossing

A LEGO Animal Crossing theme is rumoured for 2024, but it's far from the first time the LEGO Group has interacted with the game.

Rumour has it, according to Instagram user 1414falconfan reports (via brick_clicker and exabrickslegogo_) that a mystery LEGO theme for 2024 will be the second based on a Nintendo property in the form of Animal Crossing.

Every LEGO Animal Crossing set rumoured for 2024 so far

It should be noted that the LEGO Animal Crossing theme is only a rumour at this time and has yet to be officially confirmed in any capacity. Still, it's not like the LEGO Group is unaware of the franchise and not just because of the existing partnership thanks to LEGO Super Mario.

The LEGO Group has a surprising amount of experience with Animal Crossing, even directly using the game to promote their products. While not entirely within their control, the franchise has been popular on LEGO Ideas with several fan-designed models on the platform and some even making it through to a review round.

Tiago Catarino's Animal Crossing: New Horizons Paradise was featured in the first 2021 review and Animal Crossing New Horizons: Nook’s Cranny from Micro Model Maker was included in the second 2020 review.

Both were unapproved but it's clear there's demand for LEGO Animal Crossing and many different ways to approach models based on the game.

However, the LEGO Group have directly interacted with Animal Crossing too. To promote LEGO DOTS in 2020, designs based on the theme were added to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons via the custom design creator tool, which can be used by anyone. This was later clarified to not be part of the existing partnership with Nintendo.

That wasn't it for LEGO DOTS' use of Animal Crossing for marketing though as in 2021, VIDIYOLAND was added to Animal Crossing: New Horizons using another of the game's community sharing tools. This consisted of an island based on LEGO VIDIYO and its characters, likely not part of the partnership between the LEGO Group and Nintendo.

Now, with a potential LEGO Animal Crossing theme on the horizon – or should that be New Horizon – things could be coming full circle for both the LEGO Group and the LEGO community

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