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Sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons are now banned in China. The restriction first came into effect on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao on April 9 and is now impacting all retailers in the country. The ban covers not only the game, but all merchandise and related hardware.
No official word has been given as to why Animal Crossing has been banned, though it seems likely that the decision was fueled at least in part by some players using the game’s Custom Design pattern editor to voice political and social views deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government. Joshua Wong, a leading voice in the Hong Kong protests, tweeted that in light of public demonstrations being put on hold as a result of COVID-19, protesters are turning to Animal Crossing to voice their views instead:
Animal Crossing is Fast Becoming a New Way for Hong Kong Protesters to Fight for Democracy! The #Covid_19 pandemic has halted public demonstrations, so protesters are taking their cause to #AnimalCrossing.https://t.co/A599kjlYsV
(This is my island!) pic.twitter.com/vjBhzw1nUa
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) April 2, 2020
Only three Switch games are currently available to purchase in China, causing many consumers to turn to sites like Taobao and Pinduoduo to import both games and hardware. Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t officially available in China, though Nintendo is partnering with Tencent to bring a special edition Animal Crossing console to the region. But in light of this new franchise ban, it’s not clear whether the game will come out in China, though if it does it will likely have certain features disabled to enact censorship.
Source: Nintendo Life
