Biden campaign launches official Animal Crossing: New Horizons yard signs

Who says games aren’t political?! Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can now decorate their island front lawns with official Joe Biden signage, including their Pride logo, as the Biden/Harris campaign continues its reach out into the digital world.

In a year that has thrown traditional campaigning plans into the bin, attentions have been turning to the digital space. We’ve already seen a hugely successful all-digital Democratic National Convention, as well as the hybrid half digital/half in person Republican National Trump Pledge of Allegiance.

Biden’s team has built a successful campaign so far of digital fundraisers, town halls and produced interviews. It was only inevitable I guess that games be seen as the next frontier for campaigning.

The Biden-Harris campaign has released four sign designs for players to download, featuring the official Biden-Harris logo, Team Joe logo, the “Joe” Pride logo, and an image of aviator sunglasses shaded in red, white, and blue.

Players can access the designs in-game by scanning the design QR codes through the Nintendo Switch Online app.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen games be used to host traditionally IRL events in-game due to the pandemic. Travis Scott held his first concert in Fortnite in April, and over 10 million players attended it.

“Animal Crossing is a dynamic, diverse, and powerful platform that brings communities together from across the world. It is an exciting new opportunity for our campaign to engage and connect Biden-Harris supporters as they build and decorate their islands,” Christian Tom, director of digital partnerships for the Biden campaign, said in a statement to The Verge.

“As we enter the final campaign stretch towards November, this is one way we are finding new creative and innovative ways to meet voters where they are and bring our supporters together. This is just the start of how we plan to engage players ahead of November as we’re already looking forward to rolling out more digital swag, voter education tools, and organizing efforts on Animal Crossing and other platforms.”