Can You Enjoy Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Without Spending?

Artura ponders microtransactions

- Artura Dawn

Throughout my years of gaming, I've grown bitter and cynical, in particular with mobile games. You see, I've tried many a game that has microtransactions that ultimately ruin the experience, be it for pay-to-win mechanics or heavily monetised things that start making it feel hard to be able to enjoy them. It's for this reason that I've begun to pay very close attention to microtransactions in games and how greedy they may or may not be.

In my journeys, I've stumbled upon Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, a charming little game made by Nintendo. The mobile entry of the Animal Crossing franchise has you running a small camp where you can host up to eight whimsical villagers ranging from barnyard animals to cephalopods; it's basically Animal Crossing with a hint of mobile.

The main goal in the game is to befriend all of the campers whilst also decorating the several areas that are offered to you: the campsite, the cabin, and your very own van. As such, you could guess that some of the furniture would be gated behind paywalls due to its mobile roots, and you wouldn't be wrong.

The premium currency in Pocket Camp is called "Leaf Tickets" with several ways to acquire them. Of course, the first and most obvious one is purchasing them with real currency, with prices ranging from $0.99 to $39.99, several deals that happen in events (such as the latest Black Friday sale), and subscription services that provide some benefits along with a few Leaf Tickets monthly.