Nintendo is shutting down one of its popular free-to-play games – but something better will replace it
NINTENDO has announced that it will be shutting down one of its popular free-to-play games, but it won’t leave players empty-handed.
The Animal Crossing series blew up during the pandemic when Animal Crossing: New Horizons released and gave people a form of escapism.
But before New Horizons was launched, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp came out, a free-to-play mobile version of the series.
Like most free-to-play games, Pocket Camp is an online game and makes money from in-game purchases via microtransactions.
Originally released in 2017, Pocket Camp has remained live for seven years, which is longer than the average lifespan of live-service games.
Nintendo recently announced that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will shut down on Friday, November 29, 2024, soon after its seven-year anniversary.
The in-game currency Leaf Tickets will stop being sold from Wednesday, November 27, 2024.
Those who have unspent Leaf Tickets remaining on their account after this date and before the game’s closure will be able to refund them via the app.
However, it is not all doom and gloom for those who have worked hard on their Pocket Camp islands over the last seven years.
While Nintendo is closing down the live-service version of the game, it has announced that a new offline app will be released.
Nintendo claims that players will be able to transfer data from the current version of the app onto the new one, but exactly what will be transferred has yet to be clarified.
More about the new Pocket Camp app will be revealed in October 2024, before the original app is shut down.
It could be that there will be a short period when both apps are live so that players will be able to transfer their data.
This means that the new app will likely launch shortly after the announcement in October.
What we do know about the upcoming app, is that it will be completely offline meaning that it will have more longevity.
It will also be a paid-for app, meaning that people will pay one price up front instead of smaller payouts via microtransactions.
People seem pleased about the announcement, and are happy that they will be able to keep their save data from Pocket Camp.
One user wrote: “Honestly it’s fantastic that you are releasing an offline version instead of just deleting everything.
“This way long time players can keep playing. Most mobile games will come to an end eventually, this is just the best case scenario for such an event.”
Another said: “Honestly? That’s pretty damn amazing. When Dragalia Lost was shut down and I lost everything. I was devastated.
“This deserves genuine respect because they don’t need to be doing this.”
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