PS5's Latest 'Original' Game Looks So Much Like Animal Crossing, Nintendo's Lawyers Are Probably Already Watering Their Lawsuit Trees

AI Gaming News Author · Game Rant ·

PS5's Latest 'Original' Game Looks So Much Like Animal Crossing, Nintendo's Lawyers Are Probably Already Watering Their Lawsuit Trees

A new PS5 game, 'Anime Village Online,' has popped up on the PlayStation Store looking eerily like Animal Crossing, alongside another of its developer's titles that's a dead ringer for The Last of Us – a pattern that raises questions about platform moderation and Nintendo's infamous IP protection.

Right, so you know that feeling when you're flipping through the PlayStation Store, maybe hunting for a hidden gem or just seeing what's new, and then you do a double-take so hard you nearly pull a muscle? That's precisely the vibe I'm getting with this latest discovery, a game that's popped up like a suspiciously familiar mushroom after a pixelated downpour.

Apparently, there's a new title gracing the digital shelves of the PS5 called 'Anime Village Online.' And, bless its cotton socks, it's about as subtle as a wizard casting 'fireball' in a library. Because, fair dinkum, this thing looks like it was born from a secret love affair between Animal Crossing: New Horizons and, well, *another* Animal Crossing: New Horizons. No, seriously. We're talking spitting image territory here, from the art style that screams 'adorable, pastel-hued life sim' to a description that could easily be cut-and-pasted from Nintendo’s own marketing spiel.

According to the listing (which, let's be honest, probably took more inspiration from existing games than a student 'researching' their essay), 'Anime Village Online' is all about building your home, decorating it to within an inch of its life, growing crops, and, naturally, catching fish. Sound familiar? It should, mate. It’s the very heartbeat of what makes *another* certain island-hopping game so wildly popular. They're even touting solo or co-op play with up to 10 players, which, if it actually worked, would be quite a feat for a game that looks like it just wandered off a Nintendo mood board.

And here’s where it gets even spicier: this game claims cross-platform multiplayer will be available when it launches in... *checks notes*... 2027. Now, I'm all for ambition, truly I am. But a promise of cross-platform connectivity three years out, from a game that looks like it's trying to cosplay as a Nintendo exclusive, well, that's the kind of bold claim that makes my gently skeptical eyebrow do a little dance.

But hold onto your virtual fishing nets, because this isn't just a one-off anomaly. As Sarah Fields over at Game Rant (who first dug into this rather curious case – props to her!) pointed out, this whole shebang feels uncannily similar to another Animal Crossing doppelgänger called 'Anime Life Sim.' That one made a brief appearance on the PlayStation Store earlier in 2025 before vanishing like a forgotten spell in the wind. Almost like someone tried a trick, it didn't quite land, so they tried it again with a slightly different incantation.

And this is where our digital wizardry gets a bit more... revealing. A little more digging into the alleged developer, one Wisnu Sudirman, unearths another game on the PlayStation Store that might just give you a serious case of déjà vu. It's called 'Rooted: Survival,' and it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world – all very gritty and desperate, you know the drill. But the single image plastered on its store page? Oh, it looks strikingly similar to *another* wildly popular PlayStation exclusive: The Last of Us. We're talking overgrown cityscapes, signs of decay, humanity clinging to survival – the whole nine yards.

Here’s the absolute kicker with 'Rooted: Survival,' though. The store listing doesn't just *look* like The Last of Us; it actually *mentions* it. Directly. It states that players who enjoy The Last of Us would likely enjoy 'Rooted: Survival.' And then, in what I can only describe as a magnificent piece of cheeky boilerplate, it adds a disclaimer: 'no copyright infringement is intended.' Bloody hell, mate. That’s like a magician telling you how the trick works mid-performance, but still expecting you to be amazed.

Now, to be fair, there's a * slight* technicality that *might* explain the visuals for 'Rooted: Survival.' It could, theoretically, be leveraging readily available Unreal Engine assets. You know, those pre-made bits and bobs game developers can purchase to quickly build environments and characters. If you’re not careful, or if you're deliberately going for a specific look, you could end up with something that feels very familiar. But here's the rub: 'Anime Village Online' doesn't have that handy excuse. Its art style is so distinctively *Animal Crossing* that claiming it's just 'off-the-shelf' assets feels like trying to explain away a dragon in your garden as a very large lizard.

So, what does this all mean for 'Anime Village Online' and its hopeful 2027 launch? Well, call me a cautious optimist with a dash of gentle skepticism, but I reckon its chances of seeing the light of day in its current form are about as slim as finding a genuine unicorn in your backyard. Nintendo, bless their litigious hearts, are notoriously protective of their intellectual property. They guard their IPs like a dragon guards its hoard of gold (or, in this case, a hoard of adorable animal villagers). Any sniff of infringement usually results in a swift, decisive, and often rather costly legal smackdown.

This whole saga isn't just about one game trying to ride the coattails of another, though. It's a symptom of a larger trend, isn't it? Digital storefronts, with their ever-expanding libraries, are becoming veritable Wild West towns. You've got genuine innovators, boundary-pushing indies, and then you've got these sorts of games – sometimes harmlessly derivative, sometimes blatant copycats, occasionally even looking like AI-generated fever dreams. It begs the question: how much responsibility do the platform holders (in this case, Sony) have in screening these titles before they reach our eyeballs and wallets? A more rigorous screening process, as Game Rant's Sarah Fields suggests, feels increasingly vital. Because while a bit of irreverent fun can be had observing these digital doppelgangers, what we really want are original experiences, not just clever facsimiles.

It's a curious corner of the gaming world, where creativity sometimes blends indistinguishably with, shall we say, 'inspiration.' For now, I'd say keep your bells in your pockets for 'Anime Village Online.' Unless you’re looking for a good laugh, or perhaps a masterclass in digital mimicry, there's probably a more genuine island paradise waiting for you out there. This one? It feels more like a spell that's about to backfire spectacularly.

Tags: Copycat Games, PlayStation 5, Animal Crossing, The Last of Us, IP Infringement

Original article: Game Rant