How The Met Brought Its Collection into Animal Crossing

On 27 April 2020, The Met added a sharing tool for its open-access images that generated patterns for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Players could preview and crop an artwork, then scan its QR code with the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app to bring the pattern into the game. The Met described the release in its original announcement.

The Smithsonian’s open-access image release shows another way that reusable collection images can travel beyond a museum’s website.

Image: Nintendo via The Met

Alongside the option to share an artwork to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Email is the Animal Crossing icon which shows a handy preview of how the image will look in the game alongside a QR Code. In the workflow described by The Met in 2020, players scanned the QR code using the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app, then imported the pattern into New Horizons.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art follows the Getty and Cincinnati Art Museum in sharing collection images for use in Animal Crossing: 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.

Image: Nintendo via The Getty

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.

Museums in multiplayer games explores other ways cultural institutions have entered spaces where people already play.

Could game platforms offer another way for museums to share reusable collection images? Alongside development time, a project needs to consider rights, maintenance and the audience it is intended to serve.