A brand-new game releasing in Winter 2026 appears to be heavily inspired by Animal Crossing, with Petit Planet set to officially debut after several beta tests. The launch of Petit Planet is the newest game from mega-popular Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse.
Animal Crossing has been a smash hit for Nintendo since the debut of the first game on the GameCube, spawning a wildly successful life simulation franchise. The series has typically received at least one game on nearly every Nintendo console, including handheld versions, such as Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS and Animal Crossing: New Leaf on 3DS. The most recent entry in the franchise proved to be its most popular game yet, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons becoming the second-best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch with more than 50 million copies sold. Now, HoYoverse’s next game looks to take a page from Animal Crossing‘s book.
Petit Planet is HoYoverse’s Next Game, Launching Winter 2026
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Image via HoYoverse -
Image via HoYoverse -
Petit Planet will be the newest game from Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse and drops players into an easygoing, laid-back life sim. Players take on the role of an employee at Loomi Co, sent to a small planet to develop their own village, with the ability to fully decorate their home planets, build houses and farms, and befriend the locals that inhabit their villages. HoYoverse’s new Animal-Crossing-inspired game even teases the ability for players to go beyond their main planets, visit other players’ worlds, and travel the expansive Starsea. Pre-registrations are open now through Petit Planet‘s official website, the App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Epic Games Store, expected to release on PC and mobile devices in Winter 2026.
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HoYoverse has confirmed plenty of rewards as incentives to get players to sign up for Petit Planet, with a variety of goodies planned for different milestones. Pre-registering for the game gifts players a Bestie Star-Light as a base reward, while more than 4 million pre-registrations have already unlocked free Blissful Floral and Fruit Tea and Red Star Fireworks as rewards. The highest tier of rewards currently sits at 10 million pre-registered users, which will give all players a free Sproutling Outfit for their in-game characters. HoYoverse has already run multiple beta tests for Petit Planet, with the final closed beta set to launch on September 20.
Fans of Animal Crossing-like games have no shortage of different titles to try out, with the life simulation genre becoming particularly popular in indie gaming. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream launched in early 2026 as a return to Nintendo’s popular life simulation franchise, bringing a more comedic twist on the laid-back island life filled with plenty of wacky humor. Popular brands like Hello Kitty and Disney have launched their own spins on life sim games in Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Disney Dreamlight Valley. Even Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues to receive new updates, with the game’s 3.0 patch launched alongside the Switch 2 Edition in January.
Petit Planet is just one of several new games in development by HoYoverse, alongside ongoing games such as Genshin Impact. The studio is currently developing Honkai: Nexus Anima as a spin-off to the developer’s flagship franchise, featuring crossover characters from Honkai Impact 3rd and Honkai: Star Rail alongside adorable Pokemon-like creatures. The studio also has multiple other games in early development, including dark co-op action game Nodusfall and open-world RPG Varsapura. The addition of Petit Planet to its lineup helps HoYoverse further cement its status as a major force in the gaming industry.
- Released
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2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Number of Players
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Single-player
