Animal Crossing: New Horizons preorder delays affecting some customers - check yours now!

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Certain customers have been notified that their Animal Crossing: New Horizons pre-orders on Amazon have been delayed until Tuesday, 24 March. 

Posts on Reddit have started appearing of people saying they've received emails that their pre-orders of Animal Crossing: New Horizons won't be arriving until several days after the launch date. Redditor One Dos San Chaar writes that "I just got a notification from Amazon letting me know it's pushing back my AC delivery until Tuesday, March 24th. I pre-ordered the game two months ago." 

The Reddit post has since been updated saying "it seems a lot of people on here and on Animal Crossing Reddit is [sic] also getting their delivery pushed to Tuesday." In the replies, many others have been hit with the same notification, but it appears to only be affecting certain customers in particular regions. From the Reddit post, it looks like customers in parts of the US and Canada have been hit with delays to their orders, while those in Italy and the UK appear to still be on track to receive their copies tomorrow, March 20, on the official day of launch. 

If you have pre-ordered a copy through Amazon, it's definitely worth checking to see if the estimated time of arrival for your copy of New Horizons has changed. Many appear to be making the switch to pre-order a digital copy in the wake of the delay. Nintendo announced that those who preorder digitally can also download the launch day update ahead of time so you dive right into the fluffy magical world of Animal Crossing as soon as it releases on the Switch. 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn't the only game getting delivery delays on Amazon. Final Fantasy 7 Remake pre-orders have also been hit with delays, and Square Enix released an official statement saying that some may not receive their copy of the game on the day of release amid the Coronavirus outbreak. 

Can't wait to set off on your island getaway? Here's what time you can start playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good. 

Latest in Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing's "obscure references" were all "localized out completely" before its debut in the West, as Nintendo felt it needed to "change everything"
Anime Life Sim
After unsuccessfully attempting to launch a Monster Hunter clone, this controversial dev is now supposedly releasing an Animal Crossing-like game on PS5
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's new paid version has finally arrived and is microtransaction-free, but fans already miss the old app
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
As the free-to-play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp prepares to go offline, Nintendo reveals more on the paid replacement - including its $20 price tag
Galactic Getaway
This multiplayer life sim is like Animal Crossing in outer space with Mario Party minigames, and it's just what I needed this Steam Next Fest
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp players blast "greedy" Nintendo as new items roll out despite the game's imminent shutdown
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2