Chinese fans had been importing copies of the new Animal Crossing, but a major online retailer is now no longer allowed to sell it.
Excitement for Animal Crossing: New Horizons was at an all-time high when it was announced, and it only continued to grow in popularity upon its release, with seemingly everyone and their grandma getting a copy of it.
However, it seems that the game has been unofficially banned in China, or more specifically, can no longer be sold. This first seemed to originate from a fan-made Twitter account that covers Nintendo news for Chinese audiences, which was then shared on forum ResetEra.
According to them, all Animal Crossing merchandise listings had to be taken down. As often seems to be the case in these situations though, no official reason was given. However, fans think they know what’s going on…
Again, this hasn’t been confirmed or acknowledged by the Chinese government, but it’s no surprise that people would jump to that conclusion, especially since players in Hong Kong were using the game as a new means of protesting against the government.
Josh Ye, a journalist for the South China Morning Post, corroborated the news about the ban, but further extrapolated some details, specifically that New Horizons technically wasn’t being sold in China in the first place.
However, while the game can no longer be sold in China, those who already own it can still play it and it is still possible to download it digitally.
As for whether New Horizons will ever see an official Chinese release, Ahmad did say that while it’s possible it won’t happen, Minecraft – which also allows players to create their own content – has been approved for release.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available exclusively on Switch.
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