The Met take their collection onto Animal Crossing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art based in New York City have made their collection available to over 13 million players of Nintendo’s longest running game.

In the Nintento Switch game Animal Crosssing: New Horizons the player assumes the role of a customizable character who moves to a deserted island. Here the player can explore, gather items, catch fish and build a community.

Announced yesterday on the museums blog, the MET have made it possible for players to add artworks to Animal Crosssing: New Horizons through the addition of a share button on their online collection.

Alongside the option to share an artwork to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Email is the Animal Crosssing icon which shows a handy preview of how the image will look the in game alongside a QR Code. When the QR Code is scanned from a Nintendo Switch it downloads the artwork into the New Horizons game for the player to display in their virtual house or wherever they want.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art follows the Getty and Cincinnati Art Museum in making their collection available in Animal Crosssing: New Horizons.

While the resolution of the artworks on the Nintendo Switch may not allow players to fully appreciate the art, this is a fun way for museums to interact with millions of players around the world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty and CAM used the open-source Animal Crossing Pattern Tool a site where users can upload or draw images to generate a QR code to connect their collections with the game.

Given the huge reach of this game and the fact that the only cost for museums to participate is development time, could Nintendo Switch be the next frontier in museums taking their collections into new and unexpected places?