Is Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete the “perfect” way to end a live-service game?

Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete will launch on December 3 for mobile platforms. This is a buy-to-play version of the live-service game Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which is scheduled to be discontinued on November 29 this year. As reported by J-CAST, the transition is being lauded by Japanese Nintendo fans as the “perfect” way to end a gacha game.

Replacing its predecessor, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete will be released as a one-time purchase game. It will be available for the limited price of $9.99 until January 31, 2025, after which the price will go up to $19.99. Players will be able to transfer their save data (including all contacts, furniture, outfits and other items) from the original Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and continue to play the game offline.

As the new game will do away with in-app purchases, it will no longer include purchasable items. Basic gameplay will remain unchanged, and players can expect seven years’ worth of items and events from the original Pocket Camp..

Pocket Camp Complete will also come with some new features, such as Camper Cards, which let you connect to other campers using QR codes, and Whistle Pass – a new area for interacting with fellow campers. Nintendo plans to add new items and events to the game.

The complete version’s full price of $20 has raised some eyebrows, particularly among English-speaking fans. However, many have welcomed the fact that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be preserved instead of disappearing forever, as well as the fact that it will be reborn as an offline game, without gacha mechanics. Such occurrences have been rare until now, but perhaps Nintendo will set a precedent for other live-service games nearing the end of their life cycles.