There’s never been a greater need for the cozy life simulation game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. For years, gamers and nongamers alike have anticipated being holed up with a warm mug of tea, a blanket, and their Animal Crossing: New Horizons vacation. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic only adds to that escapist enthusiasm.
For her two small game stores, Kelsey Lewin, the co-owner of Pink Gorilla Games in Seattle, ordered 350 copies. Retailers say it’s among the most preordered games they’ve stocked in years. Despite a widespread outbreak of Covid-19 in and around her city, and government pleas to limit human contact, Lewin is relying on customers to come by and pick up their Animal Crossing: New Horizons box.
“Even if the store is closed, I will personally be here and let people in one at a time. I’ll have gloves on,” says Lewin. “A lot of people are riding on Animal Crossing, and we are too.”
Digital marketplaces for PCs, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One have subsumed a videogame retail business previously dominated by brick and mortar shops. There aren’t a lot of practical reasons to buy a game IRL anymore, and the numbers prove it: Game retailer GameStop’s annual revenue has dropped by $1 billion since 2015, as the chain closed hundreds of stores over the last couple of years.
But there’s a special nostalgia and sense of community tied to driving over to a local game shop and purchasing an artful, shiny box containing the title you’ve been waiting months or years to play. Lewin’s store is fun to be in, an eye-catching hot pink, walls stacked high with irresistible plushies and vintage games. And there’s a social aspect: GameStop still hosts midnight release events, where excited fans meet and line up together in anticipation of a launch.
Or it did, until Covid-19, which has transformed one of the most anticipated launch weeks of the year into a mess and a half. On Tuesday, GameStop announced it would cancel its Animal Crossing release event, and the release event for Doom Eternal, initially slated to release on the same day, “to maintain the health and safety of our guests and associates.” In recent days, GameStop employees around the country have spoken out about their fears around working shifts as Covid-19 spreads. One GameStop supervisor told Kotaku that although GameStop corporate had promised to take precautions like providing hand sanitizer, “the stores in my area have received nothing.” Another employee told Kotaku they feared losing their job because staying home without a doctor’s note could count as an unexcused absence.
