In a recent interview, Animal Crossing Director Aya Kyogoku admitted the upcoming Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival spinoffs largely exist because they wanted amiibo functionality for Animal Crossing.
Kyogoku went on to explain that the decision to create Animal Crossing spin off games was because of the possibility of linking the series to Nintendo’s line of amiibo figures and cards. Kyogoku also said that the games would allow her team to escape the limitations of main series games.
“What kind of game play experience can we create using Amiibo figures and Amiibo cards?” said Kyogoku. “We also went in with the approach that we didn’t want to be limited in the scope of what we can do based on what Animal Crossing in the past has been. So this is the result of our endeavor and coming up with a new game play experience with Amiibos and Animal Crossing.”
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is slated for release September 25 for 3DS. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival will follow sometime later this year for Wii U.