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The game has become a worldwide bestseller as it allows players to create virtual versions of themselves and their homes.
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The world of ‘Animal Crossing’ has struck a chord with gamers yearning for a virtual escape from the restrictions of movement and social activity. PHOTO: AFP
HONG KONG: Chinese fans of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons are paying a premium on foreign consoles and are finding ways to bypass limits imposed by local regulators in a game that has become both a global hit and a political hot spot. .
The game has become a worldwide bestseller as its players describe the ability to create virtual versions of themselves and their homes and interact with other players as a form of real-world escapism from coronavirus blockages, but not It is licensed for sale in China. regulated gaming industry.
To get the game and play it to its full potential, gamers in China pay up to 50% premium for unlocked Switch consoles sold abroad and brought by intermediaries, get foreign bank accounts to pay for items or pay for services Get faster internet speed to access foreign game servers.
“I think everyone is like that. After a period of time, you will want to talk to someone, chat with someone, or go somewhere with someone. But there are not many such opportunities during this epidemic, “said Chinese tutor Zhao Tianyu, who bought a Switch console on Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce platform from an outside vendor in February.
“This game is a way of communicating with each other.”
Analysts say it has created the biggest stir in China of all games made abroad, and players have taken the opportunity to mimic real-world scenarios, imposing temperature controls and wearing masks on virtual islands that create e even putting up patriotic posters with images of President Xi Jinping.
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But some aspiring gamers now have to use keywords to find Animal Crossing for sale online after Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong used the game to criticize Beijing, prompting a continental offensive in illicit sales.
Playmate Liu Jici, 25, said he plays for about eight hours a day. “It’s like real life. Despite the quarantine, I can still go out with my friends.”
Nintendo said Thursday that Animal Crossing: New Horizons shifted a record 13.4 million units in its first six weeks after its launch in March and that rising demand for its Switch console helped triple the fourth-quarter earnings of the Japanese firm. .
CHINA CONSOLE LOCKED
Nintendo has been selling Switch consoles in China to the local market since December last year through a partnership with Chinese gaming giant Tencent, but these stamps with Tencent contain a server lock that prevents players from connecting to servers abroad. .
Some players told Reuters that they had initially purchased the Tencent version, thinking that they could use it to reproduce their copies of Animal Crossing obtained from the gray market, but later discovered that they could not.
Zeng Duanxuan, a Beijing fashion designer, said she had paid $ 297 for a Tencent-branded console earlier this year, but was now selling it because it couldn’t be used to play her copy of the game.
“What attracted me to the game is that you can call your friends’ houses like you do in real life, and go fishing and interact with friends. Now I’m just going to pretend I never bought this Switch,” he said.
Compared to the Japanese versions of the Switch consoles that were priced up to 4,000 yuan from third-party consoles, the new ones with the Tencent label sell for about half that of e-commerce platforms like Pinduoduo, and the almost new ones are still priced lower. at resale sites like Idle Fish.
Daniel Ahmad, an analyst at gaming research firm Niko Partners, said Animal Crossing was exposing a disadvantage that Tencent faces in trying to promote its console to the world’s largest video game market.
“This will always lead to central console players importing gray market versions first,” he said.
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China’s National Press and Publications Administration, the government agency charged with overseeing print and online media, and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nintendo declined to comment.
“ISLAND OF PROTEST”
But there is little hope that the Chinese government will relax its stance towards server blocking or quickly approve the sale of Animal Crossing in China, as the game has become a political hotspot after Wong, a democracy activist from Hong Kong used it to protest against the Beijing government over Chinese territory
Last month, Wong posted a screenshot of his island on Twitter decorated with a banner that read: “Free Hong Kong, revolution now.” Soon after that, Animal Crossing cartridges and related themed merchandise were removed from China’s gray market e-commerce platforms.
Mainland Chinese players now have to search the game using code names like “macho man picking up tree limb” and “macho man fishing bass” to find vendors willing to negotiate privately, and it has fueled further frustration among most, who say they generally only engage in mundane, non-political activities, such as dressing up their cartoon avatars or growing vegetables.
“If it was a very violent game that had been banned internationally, I would understand it,” said Zhao.
Still, some Chinese players have reacted to Wong’s posts by decorating his island with slogans such as “one country, two systems, unite China,” referring to Beijing’s policy towards Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Since then, Wong has shared photos of his island showing portraits of President Xi and the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a mock funeral with a sign saying “Wuhan pneumonia.”
“We are doing everything we can to turn an island into a protest site,” Wong told Reuters.
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