Animal Crossing Players To Boycott Game After Latest Subscription Price Hike

The Animal Crossing community is irked following the announcement of another subscription service for the popular mobile game Pocket Camp, and as a result, there is talk of a boycott to show their displeasure.

Launched in 2017, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp pulls in a neat sum for Nintendo. Late last year, it was found that the game has surpassed $250 million in lifetime player spending, ensuring its spot as the second-most successful mobile game from the Japanese company, and its most lucrative year coincided with the launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020. Tasking the player with the upkeep and design of a campsite, building furniture with different aesthetics boosts friendships with the cute critters and players can visit other players' campsites for inspiration as well as participating in contests like the mainline series of games.

Leaf Tickets, an in-game currency purchasable with microtransactions, speed up building or allow the player to build without the necessary raw materials. Moreover, there is Pocket Camp Club, the monthly subscription service with three different plans that unlocks features like extra storage, hiring a caretaker, and gain a monthly bestowment of Leaf Tickets. The latest is the Merry Memories Plan that gives the player an in-game planner, seasonal event rewards, and can even connect to Google Fit or the Health app to record steps.

Here's the announcement in an audio-visual format, if that's your style:

It's very sweet but the issue remains that these plans cost dearly if you want to make the most of Pocket Camp. The Furniture and Fashion plan is $8, the Happy Helper Plan is $3 and the new Merry Memories plan is $1, totallying $12. That's more than a gamer shells out every month for Xbox Game Pass which enables them to play hundreds of titles from years gone by to day one releases.

"I get that it's broken up and that is useful for a lot of people, but like... how is this app costing me so much money a month and I still don't have enough premium currency to do everything," said one fan in response to the announcement. "I don’t mind paying the extra $1, but something about this plan just doesn’t sit right with me. Like, this is not the right spirit of Animal Crossing," added another.

Topics: Animal Crossing, Nintendo