You can earn $2,500 to create a custom island in 'Animal Crossing'

• A food chain in Hong Kong is offering $2,580 for someone to build a branded island for it in Nintendo's "Animal Crossing: New Horizons."
• "Animal Crossing" has been a smash hit during the pandemic and people have used it as a source of escapism and as a virtual space to recreate real-life events like graduations and weddings.
• The company, Yummy House, says it has received 230 applications for the role, including some from mainland China where "Animal Crossing" is not authorized for sale.
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A Hong Kong food chain is turning to the smash-hit videogame "Animal Crossing" to get some publicity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Yummy House announced this week it is offering a one-month position paying 20,000 HKD ($2,580) for someone to create a branded island for the company in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons." Candidates must have more than 100 hours of experience playing the game to apply.

"Animal Crossing" has seen huge popularity as players have been stuck at home during the pandemic, with many people finding its tranquil play-style to be a good form of comforting escapism. Some players have created virtual versions of canceled real-life events in the game, such as graduations and weddings.

"We started planning this in April. Because of the pandemic in Hong Kong, lots of people can't go out, lots of companies are collapsing, and lots of workers are being laid off or furloughed," a Yummy House marketing executive in charge of the project told Quartz. "We thought, since so many people don't have much to do, why don't we provide this opportunity while doing some soft selling?"

Quartz reported Thursday the company had received 230 applications.

A small number of these came from mainland China where "Animal Crossing" was removed for sale after users started posting political messages about Hong Kong in-game.