A constant struggle in the Animal Crossing series is making sure that you get a good set of villagers living in your town – or in the case of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – your island. Once you’ve gone through the trouble of kicking a villager out and painstakingly hunting for a replacement, the last thing you want to have happen is for this new fellow to decide to move out on their own. Read on to find out how to stop your villagers from moving out and keeping them happy and firmly planted on your island in New Horizons.
Treat Them Well!
Villagers can decide to move out if they’re being ignored or treated badly. Make sure you talk to your villagers often, especially if they have a thought bubble or exclamation point over their head – this means they have something important to tell you.
Also, while it may go without saying, don’t mistreat your residents. Doing things such as hitting them with a net or knocking them into pitfalls will make them very upset, and they might want to move out as a result.
Be Careful When Time Traveling!
Time traveling is a contentious part of the Animal Crossing experience. While speeding up time has its benefits, Nintendo coded in many potential dangers to dissuade players from time traveling. One possible occurrence is a villager randomly moving out.
If you time travel past the day the villager is considering moving out, they’ll just leave, and you’ll have no way to make them stay. As such, if you must time travel, work slowly and carefully to ensure you don’t lose villagers in the process.
Pay Attention!
Sometimes, villagers just want to leave. Even when you treat them perfectly, they might feel the urge to head to a different island. As long as you catch them on the day they’re considering the move, you can prevent this from happening. Simply tell them that you’d like them to stick around and they will!
A Last Ditch Effort
If you accidentally tell your villager to move out by clicking the wrong option or have a change of heart, it is still possible to correct that mistake. While cumbersome, this method can save you in a pinch. This can only be done on the same day the villager asks to move, though. This method relies on the fact that your villager will pose the moving question to any player character on the island.
Since you can have multiple player-controlled characters on your island, simply log out with the character that told them to move and log in with a different one. Wait until the villager asks this second character if they should leave and tell them to stay. Problem solved!
By following all of these tips, you now know how to stop your favorite villagers from moving out in New Horizons! Now, if you’re interested in getting new villagers to move in, take a look at our official guide for that right here.