‘Anime Village Online’ Accused Of Ripping Off ‘Animal Crossing’, Evidence May Suggest Otherwise
Gamers have been outraged over a PlayStation Store game called Anime Village Online — a title that allegedly rips-off Nintendo’s Animal Crossing. While some were quick to assume Sony had supported this, in actuality it appears the developer made the game entirely from bought assets, and had utilized AI-generated art for that and other titles.
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The game was noticed around October 6th to 8th, with discussion on X and Reddit (even when removed by moderators r/PlayStation) turning negative. Specifically, many felt Anime Village Online — set to launch 2027 and already “announced” with no fan-fare — appears to be a PlayStation-exclusive life sim that apes heavily from Animal Crossing.
This is despite the PlayStation Store listing stating the game will offer “True Cross-Platform Multiplayer,” so you can “play seamlessly across consoles.” This would suggest a multi-platform release, with PlayStation getting the brunt of the blame due to seemingly being the only platform to list the game at this time.
Even so, Sony has released some their games on Steam, and the offending title hasn’t appeared on other stores at this time. Sony funding Pocketpair’s efforts with Palworld media, and attempting to capture Splatoon‘s success with Foamstars, likely fueled assumptions.
Developed by Wisnu Sudirman, the store listing explains Anime Village Online offers “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.” Players can design, decorate, and expand their home, create furniture, catch fish, meet animal villagers, and invite friends to play in each-others’ worlds.
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All these features can also be found in Animal Crossing. Even the flowers, impossibly square cliffs, and the sudden drop-off of the horizon in the art seen on the PlayStation Store page seems to be directly ‘inspired’ by Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Though the store page itself is bereft of other images online, these screenshots are viewable when using a PlayStation console. The screenshots spread online purport Anime Village Online‘s human and animal characters looking like they stepped right out of Nintendo’s own game.
However, evidence suggests this is more than just blatant imitation of Nintendo’s IP.
As attention towards Anime Village Online grew, so did a video by GVG‘s Steve Bowling back in January of this year. Adamant the game would get the developer sued, Bowling pointed to gameplay footage originally uncovered by YouTube channel Code With Ro from November last year. Bowling relates, as stated by Code With Ro, that the footage came from an asset store for Unreal Engine.
Though no longer listed (baring third party forums and search engines linking to the pages), Fab.com appears to have at one point hosted assets sold by ‘Pepe and Maroulle’ — including a “Cozy Life: Social Sim Game Template” and an accompanying Character Asset Pack — for a total of just under $100.
It should be noted there is no evidence Pepe and Maroulle are in any way affiliated with Wisnu Sudirman, or Anime Village Online.
The assets have appeared on other asset stores, but there is no evidence the original Pepe and Maroulle uploaded them (we’ve also seen the assets uploaded to websites offering them for free). The most “reliable” of these would be the listings on Itch.io, but from the user “meeshey.”
Screenshots of “Cozy Life” running in-engine were identical to Anime Village Online screenshots posted on X.
These screenshots also provided a closer examination of the human protagonist’s face- a little bit different from Animal Crossing, with smaller eyes (even though the player has numerous customization options, the Anime Village Online art appears to imitate the “default” face). The cliffs being a darker shade of brown than the singular screenshot on the PlayStation Store was another key difference.
In fact, when looking at the art on the PlayStation Store more closely, it may be a product of AI generation. This would suggest its creator used the name ‘Animal Crossing’ as a prompt in some capacity.
Evidence of AI generation can be seen in numerous errors typically not made in 3D art, and something unlikely to occur even with poorly editing the final image.
The character’s pupils are slightly different sizes, the blush on the cheeks and pattern on the shoes aren’t even, some details are blurry and slightly ‘smudged’ (especially the texture on the plants and sweater), and there’s some white ‘fuzz’ under the character’s left cheek.
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Gamers only dug deeper into Wisnu Sudirman, and so have we. Sudirman’s other upcoming titles include Orbital Station Simulator (May 2026), Supermarket Tycoon Multiplayer (June 2026), Rooted: Survival (2026) — not to be confused with Headlight Studio’s Rooted — and the now-removed Grand British Gangland.
All those games still on the store appear to feature AI generated art-work. This is especially true for Supermarket Tycoon Multiplayer, which appears to have a female character with a giant tooth, a missing arm, and her sleeve melting into the jacket of the person next to her.
Rooted: Survival‘s description also states that it “draws inspiration from atmospheric and immersive survival experiences. If you loved the tension of The Forest, the realism of Green Hell, the storytelling of The Last of Us, or the decay-soaked atmosphere of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., this is your next obsession.”
The artwork — featuring a city overrun by nature — also takes the clearest inspiration from The Last of Us.
It later closes, “All referenced game titles, brands, characters, and visual elements are the property of their respective owners. Any similarities are intended purely as homage or satire for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement is intended.”
It appears Wisnu Sudirman has at least three games in 2026, followed by another in 2027. Looking into his LinkedIn profile (archives do not display the contents of the webpage), Sudirman completed high school in December 2020. In January 2023 he found his first listed employment, or rather, he made it.
Sudirman launched GamePoc, touting itself as “an Indonosian Game Development studio specializing in Unreal Engine Development and console porting, delivering high-quality gaming experiences.”
The company’s YouTube channel description further states, “As a solo developer operation, I bring passion, dedication, and a hands-on approach to every aspect of game creation. With comprehensive expertise across the entire development pipeline—from concept design and 3D modeling to programming, animation, and sound implementation—I deliver polished gaming experiences without the overhead of a large studio.”
Again, Sudirman is planning to release at least four games by 2027 at this time of writing.
“Specializing in Unreal Engine development, I leverage cutting-edge technology to create visually compelling and performance-optimized games. My technical proficiency spans Blueprint visual scripting, C++ programming, and the full suite of Unreal’s powerful tools,” Sudirman promised.
We emphasize Sudirman has done nothing wrong. There is nothing illegal about legally purchasing assets, making changes to make it a playable ‘game’ (no matter the scope of those changes), and then selling it.
Nor is there anything wrong with listing yourself as the developer, rather than the studio you founded. It’s odd, but not unlikely if the company had not been set up at that time and the name is a placeholder. There is even a chance these games will look more original before launch.
Whether the AI-generated art could be deemed false advertising or copyright infringement is a more complex matter. Unlike, it seems, the conditions to list a game to the PlayStation Store.
