Nintendo has announced that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will shut down this November, but if you haven't had a chance to play it yet, it doesn't sound like you'll need to worry.
In a message on X (formerly Twitter), Nintendo says Pocket Camp is shutting down on November 28th at 3pm UTC, which is around 11am Eastern (8am Pacific). Better make sure you've achieved all you want to achieve in the live-service version of the game before then.
The developer goes on to say that it will continue to hold Pocket Camp events and add items to the game up until service ends, so there's still a good reason to keep playing before shutdown.
Unlike other mobile games which have been shut down recently, however (we're looking at you, Nier Reincarnation and Echoes of Mana), there's a silver lining to this Animal Crossing cloud.
Per an official FAQ released by Nintendo, an offline version of Pocket Camp, which will allow you to play with the same save data you've been using for the standard version, is in the works.
This version of the game will be a paid product, but it won't feature any microtransactions or extra fees. It doesn't look like you'll get it for free if you've been playing Pocket Camp, though, so you'll probably still have to fork out for it whether you're a long-time player or not.
Nintendo says details, like pricing and release date, will be revealed in October, so keep your eyes peeled for that. You'll be able to see the info via "service notifications".
If you're still a Pocket Camp Club member, you'll have until October 28th to cancel your membership, because that's when subscriptions will no longer be available. Memberships also won't automatically renew after that date.
As for Leaf Tickets, if you've still got some left over, you'll still be able to redeem them until the end of service, but you won't be able to buy any more starting from November 26th.
It's nice to see Nintendo actually making positive moves towards game preservation; it would have been easy to just kill Pocket Camp and let it lie Dragalia Lost-style, but it seems that's not the plan. Stay tuned for more.
