Did Pocket Camp help or hurt Animal Crossing's popularity?

[Blood Eclipse]

I'd say it likely helped boost Animal Crossing's popularity more than it hurt it. Pocket Camp is a mobile free-to-start game, not mainline, and I doubt anyone download the app thinking they'd get a full experience of what Animal Crossing is like (unless they were new to the series). Does PC have bad aspects? Oh, yes, (mainly why I chose to skip it)but it also served as an advertisement to anyone unfamiliar with Animal Crossing and curious enough to look up if a full game exists to buy it.

 

[Lady Timpani]

I've seen a lot of posts on reddit from people saying things along the lines of "this is my first AC game!" in reference to NH; it seems most of them have played PC, but there are others who have no experience with actually playing the franchise whatsoever... but I'd imagine PC is probably what introduced them to it. So in the sense of gaining exposure to a new audience, I'd definitely say yes.

 

[Bluebellie]

I don?t think it hurt the popularity.
It hurt me though. I really didn?t like anything about pocket camp (other than the ability to easily change villager clothing).
It has me worried that the new horizons game will have features like pocket camp......and I do not want that.

 

[CodyMKW]

It helped Pocket Camp's main goal was to get people who do not own a Nintendo system to play the series to get into it I've seen people who have never played the series say they were gonna get a Switch and the next main game in the series because of Pocket Camp

 

[silasthevillager]

I think it helped. It made more people aware of the series. I know some fans of the series didn't like it, but I don't know anyone who decided not to buy NH because of PC.

 

[jcmbangor]

I spent about a half hour playing Pocket Camp. It wasn't for me but it did make me long for the next main game in the series. Now it's here.

 

[maxii]

one of my best friends got introduced to the series through pocket camp and loved it. she?s now super super excited to try a main game since i told her pocket camp was a shell of what the actual animal crossing experience is like. it definitely helped make the series more accessible and introduced more people to the series.

 

[LokiBoy]

I think that when we see sales for this game we will notice a sizeable uptick in sales compared to previous AC games. I think much of that will be due to the PC app. If anyone has noticed, Nintendo apps aren't the most complex games out there. PC is probably the least complex one of them all. Nintendo has explicitly stated several times exactly what the apps are for and I think its really working for them. The apps are meant to be a vehicle for bringing mobile gamers into the main franchises and to hopefully turn them into console gamers/buyers. So far we have seen massive increases in sales for all the franchises that have mobile apps.

My only issue with the apps is that I think Nintendo should be giving mobile players some sort of additional incentive to go out and purchase the official console games. It would be very smart for them to add some kinda of exclusive features for mobile players. Like playing the mobile app can unlock exclusive outfits, or rewards in the main games.

 

[rezberri]

i wonder if the people who say that they're gonna get a switch and play the next mainline game because of acpc will think of acnh. like, most of us who here who have played other animal crossing games and didn't like acpc and now no longer play it because it just doesn't feel like animal crossing to us. will those who are more accustomed to, and like, acpc's style of play actually like acnh? i guess the fundamental aspects of animal crossing are still in the app; we decorate, talk to villagers and do quests for them, catch bugs and fish, collect things. even if the core things of acpc are still in classic animal crossing style, we all know it just feels wrong; it feels kinda predatory in a way. even the furniture it adds, while very beautiful and grand, just isn't really animal crossing; even the art style feels different. so i wonder if people who are used to these differences in the acpc will even like acnh because it won't have the things they're used to (i'm hoping. i really don't want my villagers to only ever talk to me when they want something).

i also wonder if crafting was added to acnh because they predicted that people who only played acpc would not like acnh without it, or if it was just added because many of simulation games like animal crossing have that feature so they wanted a lil edge to help them in the market.

 

[Khaelis]

I don't really think it swayed much of anything. There are two types of Pocket Camp players:

1. Animal Crossing Fans
2. People who stumbled upon the app and don't know much, if anything at all, about the series.

And I do not think Pocket Camp would make them research more into the series.