Animal Crossing Mobile Game Gets a Lonelier, Pricier Version This Winter
Don’t pack up those tents yet.
The announcement of a new Animal Crossing game always lands with a perfect balance of exciting and soothing. We’re not quite getting that yet, but for players who skipped the microtransaction-filled iteration of Nintendo’s chillest series (probably because of all the microtransactions), a considerably watered down version of that thrill is coming soon. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is an offline version of the latest mobile Animal Crossing game that strips out its microtransactions in favor of a one-time purchase, but unfortunately removes a few other features along the way.
Service for the current version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will end in late November, with the offline version launching on December 3. The new release carries a hefty $20 price tag — an unusually large sum for a mobile game — but if you get on board before January 31, 2025, you can pick it up for a more reasonable $10. Current players will have until June 1 to transfer their save data for the new version of the game.
Nintendo lays out the somewhat convoluted changes coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete in a new video.
While it’s called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, the new release is actually cutting a few features from the original game. Since the new edition no longer requires a constant internet connection and doesn’t include a subscription, features that revolve around communicating with other players are getting significantly reduced and many subscription benefits are being removed altogether. Pocket Camp Club Journal, a cute in-game magazine, will no longer be updated, and you won’t be able to collect stickers from the game’s step counter or receive other rewards previously tied to the paid Pocket Camp Club. Paid Leaf Tickets are disappearing, and while they’ll be replaced by Leaf Tokens you can earn in the game, your Leaf Ticket balance won’t carry over.
Interactions with friends, including using the market box, sending gifts, and stamping photos will no longer be available. Many of the cut features are being replaced, though. A new feature called Camper Cards lets you exchange a customizable profile with friends, then meet them in the new Whistle Pass location. At Whistle Pass, you’ll be able to exchange souvenirs and listen to K.K. Slider concerts together. And while some Pocket Camp Club rewards are going away, others are being rolled into the game, including options for a customizable in-game planner and the ability to have a helper animal follow you around the island.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete cuts some features from the original game while adding others.
All of Pocket Camp’s seasonal events will remain in the new version of the game, and a few more are being added. Nintendo says that additional events are lined up through September 2025, but it appears that no new content will be added after that. Before the new version launches, Pocket Camp will feature one final seasonal event as a send-off to the game’s current edition, featuring a few exclusive seasonal items.
All in all, Pocket Camp Complete feels like a mixed bag. Getting rid of microtransactions is a good move, but at full price, the new edition is a wildly expensive replacement. It’s still much cheaper than paying for a monthly subscription, but no one wants to pay $20 for a mobile game. The new Whistle Pass looks like a fun way to connect with friends, but the removal of the original’s social features is a huge loss.
For new players, this is essentially a chance to try out a mobile Animal Crossing for the first time, which is hard to argue with even considering the changes from the original version. New players won’t even necessarily know what they’re missing. If anyone is getting left out by Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, it’s the game’s existing players. Doing without the social features they’ve gotten used to will undoubtedly make the game feel anything but complete, and having to shell out more money for a game they’ve been pouring subscription fees into already is a lot to ask as well.
Whether it’s an entirely good deal or not, Nintendo’s approach to shutting down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is better than the fate of some other online-only mobile games. Earlier this year, Nier Reincarnation was shuttered for good with no offline version, and countless other games have disappeared entirely from mobile platforms when they stopped paying the bills. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is far from a perfect solution, but at least it’s one that keeps the game alive in some form.
