Reggie Fils-Aimé has confirmed that the Animal Crossing game for mobile phones is still on course to be released in 2017. He did not explain why we have yet to see any footage from the game, nor why there isn't a solid release date set for within the next six months.
The Animal Crossing series was notably absent from Nintendo's E3 event. Reggie has since confirmed in an interview that the game is still in development and will be released in 2017. He also confirmed that there are other games that will be revealed throughout 2017 (most likely in Nintendo Directs). Reggie also confirmed that we will be seeing more enhanced Wii U ports for the Switch in the future, though he did not specify what games would be making the leap.
We have yet to see any screenshots or footage of the mobile version of Animal Crossing. This is unusual, as the game is due to come out within the next six months. Animal Crossing is one of Nintendo's biggest properties and it is tailor made for a touchscreen phone. The other Nintendo cell phone games have been underwhelming, to say the least. Miitomo was just a novelty game that quickly wore out its welcome. Super Mario Run was doomed from the start, as the series is based on skill and timing, which is very difficult to pull off on a single touchscreen. Fire Emblem Heroes is basically a watered down version of an actual Fire Emblem game, which only exists to beg for more money from the player. Nintendo wasn't willing to give Heroes the same epic story as an actual Fire Emblem game, so all the fans got was lots of fan service (both the character kind and the fetish kind).
Animal Crossing might be the most well-suited Nintendo game for mobile phones (with the possible exception of Pokémon). It is a slow moving series, which is mainly based around completing simple minigames and placing furniture in homes. This could easily be done on a touchscreen phone and the game could make a huge profit from selling different in-game items. The fact that we haven't seen anything from Animal Crossing is troubling, considering it is so close to release. This is the last of the promised mobile games that Nintendo have confirmed are in development. It if is an inferior game that doesn't make any money, then we likely won't see any more Nintendo titles on cell phones for a long time. It has been suggested that these games were only made to appease shareholders, so the people at Nintendo might not care as much about the quality of these games as they are of their regular titles.
The Animal Crossing game for mobile phones is set to be released sometime in 2017.