'Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp' Release Date Revealed For iOS, Android

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing line of games has hooked players for nearly two decades thanks to its charming characters and real-time town management gameplay. Last month, Nintendo announced Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the first mobile entry in the series and gave it a non-specific “late November” release window.

According to Polygon, Nintendo has given Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp a firm release date of Nov. 22. That means you will be able to micromanage your own scenic camp on your iOS or Android device later this week. Your family will probably understand if you need to excuse yourself from Thanksgiving dinner to go catch some fish.

In a normal Animal Crossing game, the player moves into a town and is given a house by local business raccoon Tom Nook, under the condition that you have to work to pay him off. Each game has a wide variety of activities you can do to pay off Tom Nook and upgrade your house while making friends with the other animal townsfolk along the way. The major hook of Animal Crossing is each game works according to the real world clock, so certain activities and events are only accessible at specific times on specific days. If you play the game at night, it will be nighttime in the game, in other words, and that affects what you can do.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is slightly different in that you are managing a campsite rather than a town. Instead of a house, you have an upgradeable and customizable van you can use to travel to different areas in and around the campsite. Your goal is to do favors for other animals in the world to become friends with them and unlock special rewards that you can use to further maximize your campsite’s potential.

Since it is a mobile game and not a full new Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch, it is not exactly the same kind of game as the ones you may have played on GameCube or Nintendo 3DS. There are real-money microtransactions in the form of leaf tickets, which you can use to purchase crafting materials or reduce the timer on the construction of new buildings. That means it is free-to-play by defaultand it has a host of traditional Animal Crossing activities, like fishing.

Another thing to note is you do not work for Tom Nook this time, but you rather owe money to three penguins. And yes, the game does have the same real-time structure as its predecessors, so you will want to have your phone on you at all times even more than usual now.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is the latest fruit of Nintendo’s partnership with mobile developer DeNA, announced more than two years ago in an effort to expand Nintendo’s franchises to a wider audience. DeNA’s previous Nintendo products include the social networking app Miitomo, as well as Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes. Nintendo has also announced plans for a The Legend of Zelda mobile game. Though there has been no confirmation of this, it is also reasonable to expect an Animal Crossing game for Nintendo Switch at some point, too.