It’s one thing to be inspired by a beloved game or franchise, but it’s an entirely different thing to blatantly rip it off, which has been known to not only breach copyrights and trademarks but also offers the industry nothing new or original that contributes toward its growth and progress. Nevertheless, it seems that continues to happen anyway, as yet another Animal Crossing copycat has found its way onto the PlayStation Store with no signs (yet) of being taken down. The game in question is Anime Village Online, an upcoming cozy life sim developed by Wisnu Sudirman for the PS5.
Cozy life sims are far from anything new, but they have nonetheless continued to rise in popularity, with more and more developers jumping on the cozy bandwagon with their own iteration on the formula made popular by games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. Occasionally, though, those games cross a line, and it looks like PS5’s upcoming Anime Village Online may already be headed that way. Mimicking a formula can be okay, but going so far as to double down on another game’s visuals and art style almost never works out.
How Anime Village Online Mirrors Animal Crossing
First of all, it doesn’t help that Anime Village Online‘s visuals look like they’ve been generated by AI, and given how much they resemble Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it would make sense if a prompt were used that included the game’s title. So far, only one image for the PS5 game has been shared, and there’s a chance it doesn’t actually represent the final product’s visuals. Still, when that image is paired with Anime Village Online‘s description, it’s hard not to see it as a knockoff.
The official PlayStation Store description for Anime Village Online lists mechanics that mirror Animal Crossing point for point:
- Build furniture, expand your home, and personalize your village.
- Grow crops, catch fish, and gather materials for upgrades.
- Meet new characters, trade items, and unlock new areas.
- Visit friends’ villages and build together online.
Again, mimicking a game’s mechanics and using them as a starting point is all well and good, and there are plenty of cozy games that do just that. Even Stardew Valley is an evolution of a formula established by games like Harvest Moon, and it is widely considered one of the best cozy games ever made. In the same way, Anime Village Online seems to have no problem imitating Animal Crossing‘s familiar mechanics. However, while that might not be inherently bad, when those mechanics are then frosted with a thick layer of Animal Crossing-flavored icing, they start to infringe on well-guarded territory that Nintendo, especially, isn’t known for being flexible with.
The Larger Problem With PlayStation’s Store Curation
In a recent post on Reddit, user YellowFlower69 summed up the Anime Village Online controversy with one comment: “Someone’s getting sued.” While no legal action has occurred yet, it not only feels like a matter of time, but the listing highlights a persistent problem with the PlayStation Store and its vetting process. When it comes to Anime Village Online, comparisons to Animal Crossing arguably shouldn’t even be necessary for it to be under more scrutiny before being granted a spot in the PlayStation Store’s selection, as the game almost certainly uses AI-generated visuals for its key art. At that point, its Animal Crossing similarities are evidence upon evidence that games like Anime Village Online need to be subjected to a more thorough vetting process.
PlayStation’s ongoing issue with copycat games and weak store moderation:
- Questionable or AI-generated titles have repeatedly surfaced on PSN, from Anime Life Sim to Rooted: Survival.
- The Store’s automated approval process allows placeholder projects to appear before being verified.
- If Nintendo intervenes, it could set a new precedent for platform liability in cases of clear visual mimicry.
It could be that Anime Village Online is still some unfinished indie experiment or little more than an unashamed Animal Crossing clone, but its presence on the PlayStation Store nonetheless shows how much more difficult it is now to separate the original from the imitators. The cozy life sim genre naturally invites developers to experiment with the formula, but its considerable popularity also shows how easily a game can cross the line that separates homage from controversy.
