Nintendo shuts down user-created Animal Crossing ‘adults-only’ island

A seedy island created by a player in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons game has been deleted by the game’s developer, ending its five-year virtual run.

The island, replete with strip clubs and other nightlife spots, was created by user churip_ccc in a game where players can decorate homes and islands, befriend woodland creatures and collect fish and bugs.

The user announced on X that Nintendo had shut down the island on Jan 13, a day before its latest update.

“To Nintendo, I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Or rather, thank you for turning a blind eye for more than five years,” the user wrote in Japanese, while thanking players who had visited the island, and video game streamers, who had showcased the island in their videos.

The user-generated island was created a few months after the game – which is rated on Nintendo’s website to be safe for users of all ages – launched in 2020, reported the English- and Japanese-language video game publication Automaton.

It added that the island was “a top tourist spot among Japanese fans of the cosy life simulator”.

Automaton said that the virtual island was praised for its high quality and level of detail, including its own Edo-era inspired red-light district, sexy “exhibitions” of biological rarities and adult shops selling schoolgirl-inspired costumes and toys.

In a YouTube video showcasing the island, multiple replicas of Michelangelo’s David are seen around the island, with their genitalia concealed by neon palm trees.

Also, the famous Venus De Milo marble sculpture finds herself not in the Sully Wing of the Louvre in France, but taking centre stage in a nightclub, gawked at by club-goers.

Nintendo fan website GoNintendo reported that the latest update to the game included a sweep of player-created islands, which was what led it to this “one island that definitely goes against what Nintendo wants Animal Crossing to be”.