Nintendo to Let Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Players Keep Playing After Servers Shut Off... for a Price

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is shutting down, as Nintendo announced back in August. But this weekend, it revealed the paid offline version that will be replacing it. It's called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, it's basically the same as Pocket Camp without the microtransactions, and it will set players back either $10 or $20 depending on when they purchase.

In a video, Nintendo outlined how Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete data transfer and features will work compared to the original Pocket Camp. Transferring data from one game to another is fairly easy, and just requires linking your Nintendo Account with Pocket Camp and then linking that same account with Pocket Camp Complete.

We released a video on the paid version of the app to which you can transfer your #PocketCamp save data and continue to play. It shares the following information:

・ About transferring data
・ New featureshttps://t.co/mQeEUMCsnf pic.twitter.com/OailfRVD4U— Pocket_camp (@Pocket_Camp) October 28, 2024

Doing this will move almost all important player data from one game to the other, including level, Bells, friendship levels, inventory and warehouse items, layouts of the campsite, cabin, and camper, and current and saved outfits. Keep in mind that this will only work until Pocket Camp shuts down on November 29 - after that, you can't link accounts.

The good news is that Pocket Camp Complete largely is just Pocket Camp without the microtransactions. It's missing features tied to payment, like Leaf Tickets and the Pocket Camp Club, but those are being replaced with baked-in versions of the same thing. Pocket Camp Club's features are largely just a part of the game now, and Leaf Tickets are being replaced with Leaf Tokens obtained from completing goals or exchanging Bells that can be used to buy furniture or shorten craft time.

Since Pocket Camp Complete is not an online game, the online friend features will also be disappearing, but they're being replaced with a QR code sharing system that will allow you to invite friends to a new area called Whistle Pass, where you can receive gifts from them and enjoy a daily K.K. Slider concert together. You'll also be able to transfer all your old friends from Pocket Camp with the rest of your data, provided those friends also log into the game before it shuts down.

Finally, regular seasonal events will continue to happen as before, with some new ones added for Pocket Camp Complete. This means the game will have new items in it all the way until September of 2025, and there will be paths to collect missed seasonal items and complete collections without waiting for that specific event to roll around again.

That all sounds pretty great: it's basically Pocket Camp without the online features and the microtransactions, taking some of the sting out of the game's shuttering. The one downside is the up-front cost. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete costs $9.99 as a one-and-done charge to own the game, which isn't too bad on its own. But if you wait until January 31, 2025 or later to join the game, that price doubles to $19.99. So if you're thinking of starting Pocket Camp for the first time or transferring your data, better do it soon.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete launches for iOS and Android on December 3, 2024, just a few days after Pocket Camp shuts down.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.