Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Has Users but Not Revenue - The UpStream

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Has Users but Not Revenue

posted Saturday Dec 2, 2017 by Scott Ertz

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Has Users but Not Revenue

Since Nintendo announced their intention to enter the mobile market with their games, the company has launched 3 Nintendo-branded and 1 partner title. The most recent mobile game to come out of Nintendo is Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, a game that, theoretically, follows the path set before it by other games in its family.

The big difference, of course, is in the game's revenue model. While other Animal Crossing games are a particular price for the game and you play it to your heart's content, this game is free to download. And download people have. In the first 6 days the game was available, it received over 15 million downloads worldwide, placing it right behind Super Mario Run.

But downloads don't always translate into revenue, as Nintendo is finding out the hard way. While a lot of people seem to be playing, few seem to be paying. In fact, of the 3 Nintendo-proper titles, it has generated the least amount of revenue in the first 9 days - by A LOT. Fire Emblem Heroes, the lowest downloaded of the 3, had generated the most revenue at this point, with $33 million. Second was Super Mario Run with $24 million. Lastly, we have Pocket Camp with only $10 million. In addition, the global distribution of spending is definitely not even, with Japan representing over 40% of all revenue, and the United States representing just over 1%, at about $120,000 total.

The problem for Nintendo comes from the fact that there is just no real urgency present in the game. The in-game purchases are Leaf Tickets, a resource present in other games as well. These tickets are used to speed up processes or compensate for missing resources for crafting items. There is no real benefit in this type of game to spending money to speed up the process, though. You're not trying to defend territory, you're not trying to amass armies, you're not even trying to fight Pokémon - you simply don't have any reason to purchase Tickets.

The company seems to have recognized this issue, either before launching the game or immediately following launch. A timed event was launched shortly after the game, with a Christmas theme, which includes limited-time items. This generates an urgency for new items, which could potentially generate revenue, as people rush to get the items that can only be crafted before Christmas itself.

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