• News

Animal Crossing: New Horizons save data transfer is coming this month

Soon, players will finally be able to transfer single-player resident data or even whole islands over to other Nintendo Switch systems.

TJ Denzer

November 17, 2020 8:40 AM

1

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is prepping up for the holidays. New Winter content is on the way with Turkey Day in November, Toy Day in December, and plenty of new activities to go along with both of them. That said, there’s another great addition coming in the new content. Players who have been looking to move Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands or resident data between Nintendo Switch systems will soon be able to via the new save data transfer system coming in the next update.

Nintendo revealed the new data transfer update on the official Animal Crossing Twitter, along with further details on the Animal Crossing Website. Beginning on November 19, 2020, players will be able to access a free Island Transfer tool. Despite its name, players will now be able to transfer both their island and their resident data over to a new Nintendo Switch system where it will be fully playable just the way it was previously. It’s a much requested and long awaited feature for those who may have gotten new Switches, but had no way of moving their Animal Crossing: New Horizons progress between them.

[Announcement]
The ability to transfer your island and resident data to another #NintendoSwitch system will be available on 11/19 with the free Island Transfer Tool app on Nintendo eShop.

Additional details: https://t.co/DyG3YqInhr pic.twitter.com/ME0etIc2dc

— Isabelle (@animalcrossing) November 17, 2020

Previously, in Animal Crossing: New Horizons update 1.4.0, Nintendo had activated Island cloud saving and data restoration services for the game, in case anything catastrophic happened and you needed to get your island back, so it felt like save data transfer was only a matter of time. That said, it’s great to finally see full confirmation of it and should make moving between systems with Animal Crossing: New Horizons even more worry-free.

That said, it may be a good idea to go ahead and back up your island before you do a transfer. Be sure to check out our guide on how to activate island backup cloud saves. Furthermore, with the Winter update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons fast approaching on November 19, look forward to a full list of patch notes coming soon here on Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.