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Nintendo pulling Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium amidst loot box concerns

Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be taken offline in August

Nintendo pulling Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium amidst loot box concerns

Nintendo will take down mobile games Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium amidst concerns surrounding loot boxes.

The Japanese developer revealed that because of the “unclear situation” surrounding certain mobile revenue models - namely loot boxes - that it will be shutting down the two titles in the country on August 27th, 2019.

Players that possess any in-game currencies such as Orbs and Leaf Tickets can continue to use them until both games close.

The announcements comes more than a year after the Belgium Gaming Commission first declared in April 2018 that loot boxes were considered a form of gambling and are therefore illegal.

Unclear situation

“Due to the current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models, we have decided to end the service for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium,” read a statement from Nintendo.

“In addition, future Nintendo games with similar earnings models will no longer be released in Belgium.”

Since entering the mobile industry Nintendo has shown concerns over how the company is perceived, with the firm reportedly advising development partners to not prioritise player spending.


Deputy Editor

Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.