Nintendo explains how it added microtransactions to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp without pissing me off

I'm in an emotionally abusive relationship with an eagle named Apollo who keeps demanding coconuts - and I like it. That's right, I'm one of those people still playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, freaking out over the fact that Nintendo just added a garden to my campsite and working extra hard to afford a Christmas tree for my camp visitors. 

One thing that's been noticeable is, despite playing this mobile game everyday since it launched, I haven't actually spent any money yet. Even weirder, the game hasn't made me miserable about it. We went straight to Nintendo to find out what the secret was, and the game's director Sensui Kazuyoshi, producer Konno Hideki, and series supervisors Nogami Hisashi and Kyogoku Aya got together to give us some answers. 

GamesRadar+: How did you make sure the Leaf Tickets system (the in-game currency for the game that can be earned or purchased) felt fair?
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp dev team: Speaking to the point of feeling it’s fair,  we created a system where, if you work hard to complete Stretch Goals, then you can get Leaf Tickets. You can get quite a lot of Leaf Tickets from these Goals. We hope both people who pay and those who play for free will feel it to be fair. We made it so there isn’t anything you can’t complete without paying.

How do you make the game work for people who want to play all day, and also people that want to just check in for a few minutes?
In Pocket Camp, there are no restrictions on things like how often you can play the game. There's an upper limit on requests from animals, but users who want to play throughout the day can continue fishing or bug-catching as much as they want. We think that can be very tiring, so we don’t recommend it, but... that would allow you to accumulate a lot of bells (in-game currency). And users who can only play a few minutes per day can talk to just the animals they’re interested in. We haven’t provided gameplay that takes time or is hard work. We’ve done our best so the experience doesn’t change significantly based on the customer’s play time.

What's your personal favorite part of the game?
That would be the scene where you change the camper design at OK Motors. Giovanni, Carlo, and Beppe are new characters appearing for the first time in this game, and are managing the camper dealership. If you ask them to change your camper design, they start work after showing you their trademark pose... I really think you can feel the personalities of the three new characters in their conversation from that scene.

Rachel Weber
Contributor

Rachel Weber is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.

Latest in Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing's "obscure references" were all "localized out completely" before its debut in the West, as Nintendo felt it needed to "change everything"
Anime Life Sim
After unsuccessfully attempting to launch a Monster Hunter clone, this controversial dev is now supposedly releasing an Animal Crossing-like game on PS5
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
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's new paid version has finally arrived and is microtransaction-free, but fans already miss the old app
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
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
Galactic Getaway
This multiplayer life sim is like Animal Crossing in outer space with Mario Party minigames, and it's just what I needed this Steam Next Fest
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
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp players blast "greedy" Nintendo as new items roll out despite the game's imminent shutdown
Latest in News
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening launches for $50 without a stay in early access, and while the survival MMO "will not have a monthly subscription" it will have "optional" paid DLC
Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton in Hawkeye
Linda Cardellini cast as Jason's mom, the original Friday the 13th killer, for Crystal Lake prequel series
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red won't make survival games just because they're popular, but Netflix's Edgerunners anime is fueling dreams bigger than RPGs
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot showing female protagonist Naoe
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe actor was terrified to perform until her first mocap scene earned "a standing ovation" on set: "Maybe I can do this mocap thing"
Daredevil: Born Again
Marvel may have just sneakily confirmed one of the biggest Daredevil: Born Again fan theories
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke actor says that Naoe could beat his samurai in a fight: “Especially with that big a** helmet of mine”