“Many people have been here since the beginning, and they’ve really poured their lives into Club Penguin,” said Warden. It’s been a bittersweet time for Club Penguin crew. For example, if a player walks into an area with a campfire, predefined chat options might include phrases like “Does anyone have marshmallows?” or “Does anyone know a ghost story?” “The main thing has been to provide an unlimited potential for play that is inclusive - to let kids connect with each other and engage in self-expression,” said Rebecca Warden, producer for Club Penguin Island in the Kelowna studio.Īs part of enhancing the role-playing experience, Club Penguin Island includes a contextual quick-chat menu as “conversation-starters,” Warden said. (Getting kicked off Club Penguin for bad behavior, incidentally, became a game unto itself in some quarters.) Players will have access to familiar reporting tools to let them self-moderate the community. With the new app, “kids don’t have to stretch their fingers across the tablet.”ĭisney also is emphasizing the security and safety features of Club Penguin Island, which includes a new safety moderation system with a chat filter. “It’s hard if you’re a kid to hold a tablet in landscape mode,” Molinets said. That meant changing from a landscape-based orientation in the old game to vertical portrait mode. We think it has a ton of legs.”Ĭlub Penguin Island also gave Disney the opportunity to optimize the massively multiplayer online game for mobile. “The viability of Club Penguin was the main concern for us. “The investment required to sustain the current version would have been massive,” he said. Why is Disney making such a disruptive change? The upkeep of the old Club Penguin platform was becoming prohibitively expensive, said Jim Molinets, Disney Interactive VP of kids and casual games. The company is not disclosing how many Club Penguin subscribers it had, but at one point the site had 200 million registered users. “The new experience offers players the fun and social elements we know kids love, while maintaining the safety features parents have come to trust.”ĭisney acquired Club Penguin in 2007 in a deal worth up to $700 million - although it ultimately paid half that, after Club Penguin failed to hit certain profit targets. “Club Penguin Island was designed for the next generation of players who have grown up on mobile devices,” said Kyle Laughlin, senior VP of apps and games for Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. The new game’s updated chat function features unique emoji and 3D animations, and expands penguin-customization features with a “fashion-forward” range of outfits and accessories.
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