Turns out Nintendo released multiplayer details for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You just had to read the fine print.

Scroll down to the very bottom of the game's website now and there will be a list of conditions for how players can share their island life with friends.

Here's how it will work based on the description published by Nintendo of America...

  • Eight players total (each requiring Nintendo Accounts) can live on the same island on one Nintendo Switch console.
  • Four of them can be playing on the island at the same time via local multiplayer.
  • Eight players can be active on the same island all at once via local wireless or online play (Nintendo Online membership needed to go online).

Local wireless and online play are nothing new. Players have been using those features to visit each other's villages going back to Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS in 2005.

Four-person multiplayer local to just one console is, however, bringing on a series first and a way for friends to mess about their towns that will require much less hardware.

There is one thing to keep in mind though. Much like the previous Animal Crossing games, New Horizons will only allow for one island per copy (or one island per console since save data gets stored on the Switch's internal memory rather than the cartridge itself). This is put more bluntly on Nintendo's Australian website compared to the U.S., and was where the multiplayer details were first spotted.

It won't be much longer before players can start building out their island villages, as Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches on March 20.

And since there's only going to be one island per console, that might be just enough of an excuse to treat yourself to that beautiful new Animal Crossing themed Switch that Nintendo revealed earlier this week.

SOURCES: Nintendo (America and Australia), GameXplain