Accreditation and CC are two different things
Accreditation is your organisation's level, from Tier 1 to Tier 5. According to Frontier, a higher tier gives you new species in Animal Trading, improved Marketing (up to 9 campaigns), new Research Network types in reserves and a bigger Animal Storage.
Conservation Credits (CC) are a currency. You spend them on adopting animals, new zoos and additional reserves. CC alone will not unlock a species from a higher tier: GamerBlurb says plainly that even a large stash of CC does not bypass the accreditation lock.
Accreditation is separate in each mode. Progress in Career does not raise your tier in Franchise, and vice versa. In Career your tier rises with medals from scenarios; in the other modes with zoos that have a high Zoo Reputation and reserves with a high Biodiversity Rating. Sandbox has no tiers: everything is unlocked from the start.
Tier 1–5 requirements in Franchise
All sources agree on Tier 2 and Tier 3. For Tier 4 and Tier 5 there are two versions:
| Tier | Prima Games and GamerBlurb version | wikily.gg and player version | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | start | start | 32 species, Observation Platform, 1 Bronze slot |
| Tier 2 | 1 zoo with 3★ Reputation | 1 zoo with 3★ Reputation | +33 species, Camera Trap, +2 Bronze slots |
| Tier 3 | 2 zoos 3★ + 1 reserve 3★ | 2 zoos 3★ + 1 reserve 3★ | +31 species, Acoustic Monitor, +1 Bronze, +1 Silver |
| Tier 4 | 2 zoos 3★ + 2 reserves 3★ | 2 zoos 4★ + 2 reserves 4★ | +30 species, +1 Bronze, +1 Silver, +50 Animal Storage |
| Tier 5 | 2 zoos 3★ + 3 reserves 3★ | 2 zoos 5★ + 3 reserves 5★ | +10 species, +1 Silver, +1 Gold |
Stars for a zoo mean Zoo Reputation; for a reserve, Biodiversity Rating.
Player experience supports the 4★ and 5★ version. A player with two 4★ zoos, one 4★ reserve and two 3★ reserves did not get Tier 4, and one reply said: "You need two 4 star reserves to get to 4". On Steam, players say the most tedious part of reaching Tier 5 is getting two zoos to 5★. On October 14, 2026 Frontier wrote that it is "currently investigating" the accreditation requirements, and updates 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 did not change the thresholds. The in-game Accreditation screen shows the current requirements.
Tier 5 holds the best-known animals, including the African Savannah Elephant, Asian Elephant, Giant Panda, Lion, Western Lowland Gorilla and Great Hammerhead. The last one comes with the Deluxe Edition, yet in Franchise it is still locked until Tier 5. In Career, lions are available from the start.
In Career, medals count: Tier 2 needs 2 Bronze and 1 Silver, Tier 3 needs 7 Bronze and 1 Silver, Tier 4 needs 12 Bronze and 2 Silver, Tier 5 needs 18 Bronze and 2 Silver (wikily.gg). More in our Career mode guide.
How to raise zoo and reserve stars
Zoo Reputation is made of four areas: Animal Husbandry, Sustainability, Guest Education and Guest Experience. Check the weakest one in Management > Overview and fix it first.
- Sustainability: recycling bins plus wind turbines or solar panels. Players say bins and renewable power alone are enough for 5★.
- Guest Education: signs, speakers, audio guides and tours with Educators. According to players, screens and speakers are enough.
- Animal Husbandry: for 5★ you need animals in the Thriving state.
A reserve's Biodiversity Rating combines the Ecosystem Rating (Established and Flourishing ecosystems, removing pollution and invasive plants, adding species) and the Research Rating (Observation Platforms, Camera Traps, Acoustic Monitors). Players recommend:
- Start with the European reserves (Scottish Highlands, Sweden, Poland): they have fewer species and a lot of overlap.
- You can reach level 2 without animals: establish ecosystems, build research stations, remove invasive plants.
- Ecosystem roles count, not the number of species. Five medium herbivores are one role.
- Deer take 4 years to mature, so start breeding them early.
Details in our Wildlife Reserves guide.
What blocks accreditation: the 87-reply thread
In the longest accreditation thread on Steam (October 17, 2026), most players were at tier 2 or 3. Four people had tier 4 and one had tier 5. A player who reached Tier 4 after about 90 hours estimates that at 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take "over a month".
The most common obstacles:
| Obstacle | What players say |
|---|---|
| Breeding for releases | instead of a nice zoo you build a "breeding farm" and play at 3x speed |
| Luck | no males, long juvenile periods, low fertility |
| Unexplained rules | the Eurasian Lynx needs a medium herbivore in the reserve first, the Eurasian Bittern a Flourishing ecosystem |
| Bugs | crash when clicking a research station, "Finalize Release Group" not working, disappearing CC |
| Locked animals | Deluxe species only available at Tier 5 |
There are positives too: it "gives you an overall goal to work towards". Practical tips from the thread: animals in storage do not age, and the "Wildlife reserve suitable" filter in Animal Trading shows animals ready for a reserve. Accreditation covers the whole Franchise, so after Tier 3 or 4 you can open a new zoo (100 CC according to players) and build it however you like.
How to get CC fast
Official CC sources: releasing Release Groups into a reserve or via Quick Release, Conservation Projects (according to Frontier they "most frequently reward you with Conservation Credits"), and in Franchise also selling animals to other players and Community Challenges. Animals with a higher "interest rating", in their prime and with good genes give more CC. Prima adds that rarer and endangered species give more CC, and that selling on the market is one of the most effective methods, especially for endangered species and albino or leucistic variants.
Example amounts (not Frontier data):
| Source | How many CC | Where from |
|---|---|---|
| Releasing 4 Common Warthog | 28 | player, Reddit |
| Quick Release of Wild Boar | 0–1 | player, Reddit |
| Scorpions (giant forest scorpion) | 2–5 each | player, Steam |
| Franchise zoo, per Reputation star | 30 per star (5★ = 150) | wikily.gg, no time unit given |
| Photos in a reserve | disputed: up to 100 a day or "small amount" | players, Reddit and Steam |
| Greeting a VIP in Franchise | disputed: 100 or "small amount" | player, Reddit; Prima |
One player noticed that Quick Release outside the Trade Centre shows 0 CC: move the animal to the Trade Centre first. On Steam, players advise against trading animals and suggest releasing them in a reserve, because "in the long run its going to pay out better". A popular idea is a separate breeding zoo for fast-breeding species (Wild Boar, Mountain Hare, axolotls, scorpions). For cash, see our guide on how to make money.
What to spend CC on
Franchise starts you with 300 CC and $45,000 (wikily.gg). Most CC goes on adopting animals in Animal Trading (you need a Trade Centre). According to players a new zoo costs 100 CC, the first reserve 0 CC, and further ones more. Update 1.0.5 fixed reserves costing the wrong amount.
Prices are set by players, so they swing: in the first days the cheapest animal cost 304 CC, a deer 100 CC, a hippo over 1,250 CC, and one thread asked about "4000 conservation credits for one sickly toucan". The "Frontier Zoo" filter shows animals sold by Frontier, which are cheaper.
Reselling deer: the player market
A Reddit thread with 1,217 upvotes: a player listed Red Deer at 100 CC, and others bought them up and relisted them for more than twice as much. The Franchise market is shared and the seller sets the price, so the game allows it. Some players treat this as a way to make CC, but the community views it critically: "Its supposed to be a conservation simulator not a capitalism simulator."
Players suggest Frontier block reselling for more CC (286 upvotes) or add 48 hours before an animal can be relisted. Some sellers give their animals names so they can spot them on the market. If you are buying, set a price filter.
CC bugs (version 1.0.5)
Players report disappearing CC ("I had 500 last night and… 4"), and in Career a negative CC value appears. In update 1.0.5 Frontier listed "negating the loss of CC" as a priority; 1.0.4 fixed the CC reward display for Release Groups. Players also describe a crash when releasing a hippo, after which both the animal and over 2,500 CC were lost. Details in our bugs and known issues article.
Differences from Planet Zoo 1
This is a comparison with the first game from 2019, not Planet Zoo 2 rules.
- The official PZ1 guide has no accreditation tiers. Zoo reputation had five factors; PZ2 has four areas.
- In PZ1, releasing an animal was a button that gave CC. In PZ2 you release animals into reserves that you shape yourself.
- In both games CC are used for adoption, and in Franchise you also earn them through trading and Community Challenges. In both, Franchise CC do not carry over to the offline modes.
- Reselling cheap animals at a higher price was already known in PZ1, but in PZ2 CC are harder to earn.
