Summary

• An offline Animal Crossing experience is coming, with no more in-app purchases or subscriptions.
• This could change the baseline gameplay and some undesired monetization elements.
• Nintendo's decision to develop an offline version of Pocket Camp shows promise for the future of mobile games.

Nintendo announced that developing an offline version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which will allow players to transfer their save data and continue enjoying their campsite life. for the online game will end on November 28 at 3 PM UTC, with an offline version of the app replacing it soon after. That might just make the game better than before.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was first released in 2017 and will now shut down soon after its seventh anniversary. In their announcement, Nintendo expressed its gratitude to the playerbase and confirmed that the game will continue to get updated until its closure. This announcement is fantastic news for players who are more interested in a classic single-player-focused Animal Crossing experience without micro transactions or gacha elements included.

No More Microtransactions

A Single One-Time Purchase For An Offline Game

More details about this new version of Pocket Camp will be revealed in October, but for now, the developers confirmed that the offline version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will have no in-app purchases (such as Leaf Tickets), subscription services like Pocket Camp Club will no longer be available, and that players will no longer be able to visit other players’ campsites.

Though it is disappointing that players will no longer be able to enjoy seasonal events or unlock new content like furniture or clothing, it does shift Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp to a potentially more relaxing experience for dedicated fans.

With the removal of any microtransactions or the gacha aspects of the game, Pocket Camp will become more like other mainline Animal Crossing games. Though Nintendo hasn’t released much information on what the future offline version of Pocket Camp will look like, hopefully, it will include a preprogrammed timeline of events for players to enjoy for the next few months or even the year.

Other Nintendo Mobile Games

Pocket Camp's Closure Could Have A Silver Lining For Other Games

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s closure is only the latest in a string of closed games or games that no longer receive content by Nintendo in recent years. Mario Kart Tour stopped new content updates in 2023, while the RPG mobile game Dragalia Lost was shut down in the latter part of 2022.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s closure is certainly sad for its fans, but it has received a much more considerate sunsetting than many other Nintendo mobile games and certainly more than mobile games by other developers, like with Apex Legends Mobile’s sudden ending in 2023.

Nintendo could see the outpouring of towards Pocket Camp as proof that mobile games can have a second life as offline one-time purchase apps. This is a small silver lining to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s ending, but it would be a huge win if other beloved Nintendo mobile games were granted an offline life after their online shutdown.