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Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Game Ends Service on November 29 with Offline Version in Development

Nintendo announced on Monday that its Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp smartphone game will end service on November 29 at 12:00 a.m. JST (10:00 a.m. EST). The company is planning to release an offline flat-fee paid app that players can transfer their save data to following the end of the original game's service. Some features that require a continuous online connection, such as Market Boxes and visiting other campsites, will not be available in the paid app. The in-game currency Leaf Tickets will not be available either. Nintendo will announce more information around October.

Sales of Leaf Tickets will halt on November 27 at 1:00 a.m. EST, and players can redeem Leaf Tickets until November 28 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Users will not be able to enroll in a new Pocket Camp Club membership after the app's maintenance on October 28, and automatic renewal will end for all plans of the membership. However, players will receive badges in accordance with the plan they were a part of, which allows them to continue using the features of their respective plan.

Players will need to link their Nintendo Accounts to the game in order to transfer data to the new paid app.

The game became available worldwide in November 2017. The title is a free-to-play game (with in-game transactions). The game allows players to create and customize the appearance of their own in-game avatar. The game runs in real-time, with time being tracked, and with scheduled in-game events and items for holidays and other special dates.

Players are tasked with building a campsite and attracting visitors by building attractions, amenities, and populating the campsite with better items and facilities. The game has different locations that contain different materials to be harvested, as well as different animals to trade and purchase items. Materials can then be given to the character Cyrus to build items and amenities. Players are also able to purchase items from in-game shops. Building the item takes time.

The game has an in-game currency called Leaf Tickets — earned by completing tasks, or purchased with real money. These Leaf Tickets can be used in place of materials, or access items to immediately acquire fish, bugs, or minerals, and to speed up building. Players can swap ID numbers with each other in order to buy items and visit their campsite.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the latest entry in the Animal Crossing franchise and the first game in the series for Nintendo Switch. The game was originally slated to ship in 2019, but was delayed to March 2020. The game sold 1.88 million copies in Japan in its first three days, the highest ever number of first-week copies sold for a Switch game in Japan. As of June 30, the game has sold 45.85 million copies worldwide. The game received its last major free update in November 2021, alongside a paid DLC update.

Sources: Nintendo, IGN (Wesley Yin-Poole)