Another suspiciously Animal Crossing-like game has appeared on the PlayStation Store

Another apparent Animal Crossing clone has appeared on the PlayStation Store, following the removal of a similar game earlier this year.

Reddit user YellowFlower69 posted a message to the PlayStation Reddit page, showing a screenshot of a game called Anime Village Online which they had spotted on the PlayStation Store.

The store listing, which is still active at the time of writing, suggests the game is planned for 2027 and says it’s being developed by Wisnu Sudirman.

Although screenshots are not yet available for Anime Village Online, the main art is clearly heavily inspired by Nintendo‘s Animal Crossing games.

“Welcome to Anime Village Online, a cozy life simulation game where you can create your dream village, decorate your home, and enjoy a peaceful world — all while playing solo or with friends online,” the description reads.

While replies on the Reddit page are questioning how a game with such a potentially actionable art style made it onto the PlayStation Store, this isn’t actually the first time this year that this has happened.

In January, a game called Anime Life Sim appeared on the PlayStation Store, and it also featured similarly Animal Crossing ‘inspired’ art. That game was in development by Maksym Vysochanskyy, a developer who had previously been accused of creating low quality ‘asset flips’ of games like Monster Hunter.

Reporting from Good Vibes Gaming at the time revealed that Anime Life Sim used the same screenshots of a ‘CozyLife Social Sim Game’ template available on Fab, an asset store for developers.

Both the game template on Fab and the Anime Life Sim listing on the PlayStation Store have since been removed.

It remains to be seen, then, whether this new Anime Village Online game will ever made its planned 2027 release date, or whether it will be taken down before then.

The main question for some, however, will be why a game like this has managed to make its way onto the PlayStation Store given what happened with Anime Life Sim earlier this year.

The issue of low quality ‘knock-off’ games has been a long-running one, and not limited to the PlayStation Store. The Switch eShop is also frequently home to low quality ‘asset flips’ with titles designed to come up in searches.

Two years ago a game called The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival was removed from the Switch eShop after it was accused of being a substandard rip-off of The Last of Us. Digital Foundry called the game “The worst game we’ve ever tested,” as part of a video showing off the game’s dated graphics.