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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is among the biggest Nintendo Switch games eveer, but as with any exclusive, there are people out there who try and take advantage of folks who don’t necessarily know about the exclusivity. A fake New Horizons title is currently being sold on the Microsoft PC storefront, and it’s not even trying to be a clone–it’s just a straight-up rip-off.
Surfaced by Nintendeal on Twitter, the Microsoft Store New Horizons game is going for just $3 right now, but we cannot recommend highly enough that you do not purchase it. First, it’s almost certainly a copyright infringement on Nintendo’s property; second, if the screenshots are anything to be believed, the gameplay doesn’t resemble Animal Crossing in the slightest. If anything, it looks like a clone of the 2014 hit mobile game Crossy Road. The description of the game, to the developers’ credit, at least, does accurately describe it rather than just lifting copy from an Animal Crossing advertisement.
A search on the Microsoft Store shows that this isn’t the first time that this studio has attempted to steal imagery from other games in its marketing. There’s also a title called Craft Imposter Among that–you guessed it–uses knock-off Among Us-esque art. It, too, isn’t anything like Among Us.
Instances like this aren’t anything new; rip-off and cloned games have been a problem for digital storefront owners for years. Microsoft itself has had to crack down on fake games in the past, like a rip-off Pokemon game. However, these sorts of issues have generally been more common on mobile platforms.
If you haven’t played the real Animal Crossing yet, the only place to buy it is on Nintendo Switch. It’s a great game, though: GameSpot gave the game a 9/10 in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons review, praising its crafting system, improvements to villagers, and character customization.
