Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Shutting Down, New Paid Version Announced
Nintendo is stripping the gacha elements and will sell it at a one-time price.
Nintendo has announced that online services for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will soon be shutting down. In an announcement on the game's official website, the company revealed that the game will shut down on November 29th at 12 a.m. JST. The mobile game has been going strong for seven years now, starting life in 2017. Alas, all good things come to an end, and it seems Nintendo is wrapping support, just as it ended new updates for Mario Kart Tour last year. Fortunately, Nintendo also announced that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be replaced by a new version around that same time.
The current version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a free-to-play game, but the new version will be a paid title. We don't know how much the new game will cost, but it will feature no in-app purchases, which means existing options like Pocket Camp Club and Leaf Tickets are going away. Leaf Tickets will not transfer, so players will have until the game's final day to use them. Players will no longer be able to enroll in Pocket Camp Club subscriptions following maintenance on October 28th. However, those still enrolled at that point will get an in-game Badge that lets them use the club services until their final date.
The new version of Pocket Camp will not require a consistent internet connection, which means that some online elements will be going away, including "Market Boxes, gifts, and visiting other players' campsites." Existing players will be able to transfer their current save data over to the paid version. To do so, players must simply link their Nintendo Account to their save data. That option can be found in the game's settings. As long as that step has been taken, players should be all set. Additional announcements about the paid version, including a price and release date, will be made sometime in the month of October.
With Nintendo gutting the gacha elements, it will be interesting to see if there are any plans to bring the paid version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp to Nintendo Switch. Switch already has the massively successful Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but Pocket Camp would be new to those that don't normally play mobile games. At the very least, it would help fill the gap as Switch owners await the next full game in the series, which likely won't happen until sometime after the company's new console is launched. For now, we'll just have to wait and see!
How do you feel about these changes to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp? Do you still regularly play the game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
