Highlights

  • The next Animal Crossing game may focus on city life, potentially changing NPC roles and allowing Redd to sell more fake items.
  • Redd, known for selling art, could expand to selling fake furniture to add a new dynamic and create an element of risk for players.
  • This NPC could potentially run a pawn shop in the city, selling shady secondhand goods, in contrast to past reliable shops like Re-Tail.

After Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the next entry in the franchise has the potential to further develop the ways in which players interact with NPC characters. Animal Crossing: New Horizons already gave players a taste of what is possible for the series, with iconic NPC characters like Tom Nook growing into a new role as the head of Resident Services on the players' island, or Lief, who acts as a traveling vendor rather than a fixed shop owner. Redd is another NPC who took on an updated role in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but he could become even more interesting in the next game with a simple change to his shop's function.

While nothing has been officially confirmed, rumors suggest the next Animal Crossing game is targeting a 2026 release and will feature a heavy emphasis on city life. Like New Horizons did with its island setting, it's likely that many of the series' classic NPC characters will have their roles tweaked to fit with the game's new theme. If this is the case, the next Animal Crossing game already has the perfect justification for letting Redd sell players more fake items than just paintings.

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The Pros and Cons of the Next Animal Crossing Game Having More Shops

The next Animal Crossing will likely evolve the franchise further, but changing the way in-game shopping is done has its ups and downs.

Redd Needs to Sell More Fake Items in the Next Animal Crossing

Redd is an iconic recurring NPC in the Animal Crossing franchise who plays a foil to Tom Nook's honest salesmanship with his price-gouging practices and tendency to scam players with fake artwork. In the original Animal Crossing for GameCube, players could occasionally find Crazy Redd in their town peddling wares from his suspicious tent. Players looking to complete their museum's artwork collection would rely on Redd since his shop was the most consistent place to find these art pieces, even if they had a chance of being a forgery.

This NPC functions similarly in subsequent Animal Crossing games but usually includes an added twist like requiring players to have a secret password to enter his tent or teaming up with Lyle to run an insurance scam. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Redd returns as "Jolly Redd" and now sells his wares out of an ocean trawler that he docks on the north shore of the player's island. While Redd is most known for selling paintings and sculptures, he has a history of selling other furniture items as well, which could hold the key to a new mechanic in the next Animal Crossing game.

How the Next Animal Crossing Can Make Purchasing From Redd an Even Greater Gamble

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Historically, the only fake items Redd has the potential to sell players are art pieces, but the next Animal Crossing could make this NPC even more devious by making it possible to buy other fake items from his shop. Perhaps players find a piece of furniture in Redd's shop that they decide to purchase, only to have it fall apart immediately after placing it to demonstrate that it was a fake or bootleg item. Players could also receive a warning from Timmy and Tommy Nook when selling a fake item at their store, like how Blathers breaks the bad news to players when they try to donate a forged painting to the museum.

Rumors of the next Animal Crossing game taking players to the city also give Redd the perfect cover for selling dubious furniture alongside artwork. Redd could potentially have upgraded from a traveling salesman to running a pawn shop in the city, where he sells items of unknown origin that have the potential to be fake, regardless of what type of item they are. This role could allow Redd to be the foil to a business like Re-Tail from Animal Crossing: New Leaf, dealing in shady secondhand goods instead of being a source for reliable recycled items.