Club Penguin

"Puffle" redirects here. Not to be confused with Ruffle or Puffleg.

For the franchise it spawned, see Club Penguin (franchise). For its successors released in 2017, see Club Penguin Island and Club Penguin Rewritten.

Club Penguin
Final logo, used from 2012 to 2017
DeveloperNew Horizon Interactive
RocketSnail Games
Disney Interactive Studios
TypeMassively multiplayer online game
Launch dateOctober 24, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-10-24)
DiscontinuedMarch 30, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-03-30)
Platform(s)Online (Adobe Flash)
StatusDiscontinued and replaced by Club Penguin Island (March 30, 2017 (2017-03-30))
WebsiteClub Penguin website at the Wayback Machine (archived February 25, 2017)

Club Penguin was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that ran from 2005 to 2017. The game featured a virtual world that included a wide range of online games and activities. It was created by New Horizon Interactive (now known as Disney Canada Inc.). Players used cartoon penguin-avatars and played in an Antarctic-themed open world. After beta-testing, Club Penguin was made available to the general public on October 24, 2005. It expanded into a large online community, such that by late 2007, Club Penguin reported that there were over 30 million user accounts. In July 2013, Club Penguin had over 200 million registered user accounts.[1]

While free memberships were available, revenue was predominantly raised through paid memberships, which allowed players to access a range of additional features, such as the ability to purchase virtual clothing, furniture, and in-game pets called "puffles" for their penguins through the usage of in-game currency. The success of Club Penguin led to New Horizon being purchased by the Walt Disney Company in August 2007 for the sum of 350 million dollars, with an additional 350 million dollars in bonuses should specific targets be met by 2009.[2]

The game was specifically designed for children from 6 to 14, however, users of any age were allowed to play Club Penguin. Thus, a major focus of the developers was on child safety,[3] with a number of features having been introduced to the game to facilitate this. These features included offering an "Ultimate Safe Chat" mode, whereby users selected their comments from a menu; filtering that prevented swearing and the revelation of personal information;[3] and moderators who patrolled the game.[4]

On January 30, 2017, it was announced that the game would be discontinued on March 29, 2017. Club Penguin later shut down its servers on March 30, 2017, at 12:01 AM PDT. The game was replaced by a successor, titled Club Penguin Island (which itself was discontinued the following year). Since being shut down, the original game has been hosted and recreated on a number of private servers using SWF files from the game's old website. Many of the private servers were shut down around May 15, 2020, after Digital Millennium Copyright Act filings by the Walt Disney Company were sent on May 13, 2020.[5][6] The most notable private server, Club Penguin Rewritten, a complete recreation of Club Penguin, had launched on February 12, 2017, and accumulated a large online community (in excess of 11 million users) among the consequences and restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns. Rewritten was shut down on April 13, 2022, by the City of London Police in compliance with a copyright investigation request by Disney.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

  1. ^ Graser, Marc (July 11, 2013). "'Star Wars' Takes Over Disney's Club Penguin". Variety. Archived from the original on August 14, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  2. ^ Marr, Merissa; Sanders, Peter (August 2, 2007). "Disney Buys Kids' Social-Network Site – WSJ.com". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kiely was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Flanagan, Caitlin (July–August 2007). "Babes in the Woods". The Atlantic Monthly. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  5. ^ "DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google :: Notices :: Lumen". lumendatabase.org. Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  6. ^ Kelly, Makena (May 15, 2020). "Club Penguin Online shuts down after receiving copyright claim from Disney". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  7. ^ Kuhnke, Oisin (April 17, 2022). "The City of London Police have arrested three people over a Club Penguin fan server". VG247. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Subhan, Ishraq (April 14, 2022). "Three people arrested for Club Penguin copyright infringement". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  9. ^ Kelly, Makena (May 15, 2020). "Club Penguin Online shuts down after receiving copyright claim from Disney". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  10. ^ Alter, Rebecca (April 13, 2022). "The Day the Puffles Cried: Disney Shuts Down Club Penguin Rewritten". New York. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  11. ^ Jiang, Sisi (April 14, 2022). "Club Penguin Remake Pulled By Disney, Three Arrested". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  12. ^ Epp, Julian (February 1, 2020). "The death of Club Penguin isn't the first time money killed an online community and it won't be the last". Insider. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  13. ^ Puente, Nathaniel (April 18, 2022). "Club Penguin fansite shut down by Disney, three arrested". KVEO-TV. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  14. ^ Mitchell, Harry (September 17, 2020). "How Club Penguin changed the internet". BBC Scotland. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  15. ^ Cox, Joseph (April 14, 2022). "Cops Arrest 3 People for Running 'Club Penguin Rewritten' Beloved by Millions". Vice. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.