The Launch of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp launched globally in November 2017, and it marked Nintendo’s second foray into mobile gaming following the success of Super Mario Run. The free-to-play app introduced players to a charming and laid-back campsite management experience and differed from the classic console Animal Crossing experience by focusing more on the decoration and customization of a smaller camp rather than a town. The game retains the charm and relaxing pace of the Animal Crossing series while adapting its mechanics for shorter play sessions, ideal for mobile gaming.
Although the game experienced moderate success in its original format, support for the free-to-play model ended this year on November 28th, and a new paid version called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete launched on December 2nd. This launch switched the game to a paid offline format. The motivation for this decision comes at a time when the government crack-down on gatcha-gaming loot boxes is at an all-time high.
If you’d like to download the game, it’s discounted right now to $9.99 for two months until it goes up to its permanent price of $19.99. The game will include all previously released items and events, except some collaborations like Sanrio. It also promises one full year of new content up until September 2nd 2025. It doesn’t look like players will be missing anything they know and love about the beloved franchise like seasonal events, Camper Cards, Custom Designs, a new place to hang out with K.K. Slider, and the ability to import your custom designs from Animal Crossing New Horizons. Nintendo is also rewarding those who have put a lot of time (and possibly cash) into the previous version by supporting the option to port over their old camp by logging into your Nintendo account. Players have until June 1st, 2025 when your progress will be automatically deleted.
Previous attempts had been made to convert the game’s profits from these loot boxes to subscriptions, but those microtransactions will be going away in this new paid version. The Happy Helper Plan subscription gave players 60 Leaf Tickets every time they renewed and their choice of a villager to help them around the campsite. The Furniture and Fashion Plan gave players the ability to save their layouts and 5 Fortune Cookies that players could open to reveal limited edition furniture. Now, instead of Leaf Tickets that players can buy with real money, there are Leaf Tokens that can only be earned through in-game actions. Not only does this change feel less like a cash grab, but it motivates players to continue playing the game as it was intended. You’ll also be able to assign a caretaker for your camp to keep track of some busy work while you are gone.
What do you think of this change? Do you think we are going to see more developers phase out microtransactions? Let me know!
