Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update is here, and cozy game fans are going feral over one quality-of-life change: "MY POCKETS ARE FREE!!!"

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update is here, and cozy game fans are going feral over one quality-of-life change: "MY POCKETS ARE FREE!!!" News By Catherine Lewis published 14 January 2026

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons' big 3.0 update is here – a day sooner than expected – and cozy game fans are already going feral over one of the life sim's new quality-of-life improvements.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 makes some crucial changes to the crafting system. For a start, you can now craft things in bulk rather than one at a time (huge for stocking up on things like tools and fish bait), but on top of that, you no longer need to carry crafting materials around to use them. Despite being one of the biggest improvements of the update, Nintendo only quietly revealed that latter point with very little fanfare, but to say fans are thrilled about the change in action would be an understatement.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD," one fan on Reddit calmly reacts. "MY POCKETS ARE FREE!!! FREE I TELL YOU!! FREEEEEE!!!!" declares another.

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Others are more relieved than anything, with one writing that "I almost cried when this popped up," while another calls it their "favourite thing about the update."

As you might expect, some can't help but wonder why it's taken so long to implement such a highly requested feature in the first place. "Finally! It only took 6 FUCKING YEARS!" Overall though, folks are just happy the option has, at last, materialized: "This is the best quality of life improvement they could have done for the game," says another.

Although plenty of people have been reporting getting into the 3.0 update earlier than expected, it looks like we'll still have to wait until January 15 for the Switch 2 Edition, which adds 4K support, mouse controls, the Megaphone item, and more.

After a huge Animal Crossing: New Horizons patch was announced out of nowhere, Nintendo says it's "constantly considering" the balance of new Switch 2 games and big updates.

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch Platforms Nintendo Catherine LewisSocial Links NavigationDeputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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