As the free-to-play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp prepares to go offline, Nintendo reveals more on the paid replacement - including its $20 price tag

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp trailer screenshto showing a chibi-style female character with bobbed brown hair, a yellow flower atop her head, and a chef-like top, smiling with her arms out
(Image credit: Nintendo)

As Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp nears the end of its service, Nintendo unveils more about the beloved app's paid replacement, Pocket Camp Complete - and unsurprisingly, it's not cheap.

It's a tough time to be an Animal Crossing stan - we're not getting any more New Horizons updates, and Pocket Camp is ending later next month. While the light at the end of the tunnel should be Nintendo's new app, the paid follow-up to Pocket Camp, it's difficult to feel excited after learning its price. As Nintendo reveals in its recent post on the upcoming game, it's apparently set to cost a whopping $20 - with "no discount" for longtime players.

Thankfully, however, there is still an early bird-esque discount for those purchasing the app before January 31, 2025. For anyone snagging the game early, the price will be halved to $9.99 - a far more reasonable ask for a mobile release, in my opinion. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete arrives on December 3 and will at least not have any sneaky "additional in-game item purchases" - a feature I'm personally tired of in the old app.

If you're like me and have also spent a good chunk on the old game and its in-app purchases, though, fret not. Nintendo says that you can keep your save data from the OG, along with any "furniture, clothing, and Bells you've collected as well as Friendship Levels with animals," although certain things like Leaf Tickets can't be transferred. It's also important to note that if you purchase the new Pocket Camp on one mobile device, it won't carry over to another of a different operating system.

Looking for something new to play? Here are great games like Animal Crossing to check out.

Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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