Club Penguin became one of the world’s iconic multiplayer online games before it was, unfortunately, shut down in March 2017. Walt Disney Company owned the online game beginning in October 2005.
The game began as a chatroom known as Penguin Chat by Rocketsnail Games. It was turned into a mobile application, Club Penguin Island. However, the game did not get enough following compared to the previous version.
The online video game was developed by New Horizon Interactive and published by Disney Interactive Studios. Players across the globe found Club Penguin as a fun and interactive game. The game had plenty of activities online. Gamers used cartoon penguin-avatars and had their play in winter landscape, virtually though.
Following its beta-testing, Club Penguin officially made its public debut on October 24, 2005.
After its launch, Club Penguin grew so fast that it had reached more than 30 million users in 2007. In mid-2013, user accounts of the game reached a whopping 200 million!
After the game’s massive success, Walt Disney Company purchased the New Horizon in August 2007. Another 350 million dollars were added as bonuses if some targets would be achieved by 2009.
The company had adapted three video games called Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force and its sequel, Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Herbert’s Revenge on the Nintendo DS, and Club Penguin: Game Day! on the Wii.
Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force and its sequel, Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Herbert’s Revenge on the Nintendo DS were out in the market in 2008 and 2010, respectively. However, the game creators disclosed to the public that the game would be stopped on March 30, 2017. The creators replaced the game with Club Penguin Island, which was also unfortunately discontinued, leading to the demise of the Club Penguin.
The downhill ride of Club Penguin
There were plenty of reasons being cited in reviews and reports on why the Club Penguin franchise was shut down.
The crack in the online game started to show in the mid-part of 2013. According game site awesomegames.miraheze.org, some of the issues that allegedly caused its downhill ride were the longer parties, huge design changes, the so-called removal of the Recycling Plant and the Stage. It was also reportedly said that its “Membership” system caused some bad reviews to the users as non-members were no longer allowed to purchase specific clothing items or even reach the final levels.
After that, an unofficial game called Club Penguin Rewritten was made. The game had an initial increase in its followers.
“Just because a company pulls a plug out of a game doesn’t mean it has to die,” according to its CPR Team.
On October 10, 2017, Disney Interactive filed a copyright complaint versus the Club Penguin Rewritten. The following year, the website declared the shutdown of Club Penguin Rewritten.
According to the reviews, the Club Penguin Rewritten was considered a fantastic game. A player can take charge of an adorable penguin who dwells inside an igloo. The player had absolute freedom in picking clothing designs and styles for both penguin and the igloo. Those who can finish the different activities can get extra points and buy new items.
Another server known as Club Penguin Online surfaced after that. However, many find the site to have “abusive” actions. It was also discontinued on May 15, 2020.
Some of the fantastic and fun minigames of Club Penguin
Astro Barrier
Catchin’ Waves
Dance Contest
Hydro Hopper
Aqua Grabber
Ice Fishing
Jetpack Adventures
Pizzatron-3000
Pufflescape
Bean Counters
Card-Jitsu and its variants Fire, Water and Ice.
Cart Surfer
Puffle Launch
Sled Racing
System Defender
Thin Ice
Puffle Rescue
Puffle Roundup
How to play Club Penguin
Club Penguin became a favorite among old and young players as a virtual game. In the online game, users could meet and talk with each other. They also had scheduled parties in a month. The parties had various themes while players could earn coins in playing the games.
The online game had many rooms. Gamers usually arrived in a place by the time they logged on. They could check on other locations with the help of a map. Being an online game, Club Penguin had a membership. If you buy a special card online or from the store, you can be a member.
A member, or a player, can have the opportunity to purchase furniture, access member-only extra activities, and adopt more puffles.
Puffles were known as penguin’s pets. Those members were given the privilege to adopt all 20 puffles in various colors. However, the non-members could only purchase a blue puffle and a red puffle.
The puffles had their toys, food, and hats which could be purchased in the online game. If the owner did not take care a puffle, it would leave him and go to the wild instead. In playing the Club Penguin, the players had multiple advantages with the game controls.
Other games can be controlled by the keyboard, while the mouse can do some. At the finishing part of the game, the players got to earn a particular amount of coins, according on how quick or good he was during the gaming session.
Amazing facts about Club Penguin
There are plenty of cool pieces of stuff that are not yet known to the public regarding Club Penguin. Despite the shutdown of the game, fans and reviewers of the game came up with some exciting information about the fun-filled game. Below are some fantastic facts from clubpenguin.fandom.com.
- Club Penguin began with about 10 employees
before the number of its staff quickly increased
- 2010 was said to be the original date for the launching of Club Penguin
- Club Penguin was redone many times
- Club Penguin’s information quickly spread even without advertisement
- Screenhog’s last day at Club Penguin was October 29, 2010
- Club Penguin’s first artist was Screenhog
- Happy77 was the first writer of Club Penguin
- Club Penguin donated 10 percent of membership profits to charity
- Rsnail’s favorite time about being employed at Club Penguin was going out for lunch
- A simple 3D program known as Ray Dream was used in creating Experimental Penguins
- Club Penguin was initially made to update rooms
- All Club Penguin staff members need to log in from one of the offices around the globe for their penguin to work
- Over 21,000 penguins log into Club Penguin daily
- The man who created the cover art for both Club Penguin Nintendo DS games also directed and storyboarded the Puffle Launch app trailer
- In 2010, over 3.4 million children donated more than 12 billion virtual coins to charity
- Lane Merrifield (Billybob) did not excel in post-secondary school
- Rsnail and Screenhog are no longer connected with Club Penguin
- Rsnail made all the smilies on Club Penguin
- Rsnail made Mancala, Find Four, Hydro Hopper, Sled Racing, and Puffle Roundup
- The Club Penguin Times has a readership of over 1.7 million penguins
- Club Penguin has over 150 million registered users
- Club Penguin receives 40,000 emails per week
- The Skull Emote was no longer made available after thousands of children wrote and asked for its removal
- Club Penguin has more employees than Twitter
- Club Penguin’s revenue is estimated to be more than $50 Million