Global InformationClub Penguin Island information
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| Developer | Disney Canada Inc. (published by Disney Mobile) |
|---|---|
| Type | Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, single-player video game |
| Launch date |
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| Discontinued | December 20, 2018 |
| Operating system(s) | iOS, Android, Windows, macOS (Unity) |
| Website | Club Penguin Island website at the Wayback Machine (archived December 19, 2018) |
Club Penguin Island was a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and was considered a successor to Club Penguin.[1] The game was released worldwide on March 29, 2017 and was created by Disney Canada Inc. in order to keep the Club Penguin franchise alive following the sudden closing its predecessor, Club Penguin, by Disney Interactive.[2][3]
The game's public beta testing period took place in Australia and New Zealand from December 15, 2016 to its worldwide release, and in Canada from January 13, 2017 to its worldwide release.[4][5] The game was discontinued on December 20, 2018.[6] The gameplay is similar to that of the original Club Penguin, though it runs on the game engine Unity rather than Adobe Flash Player.[7][8]
Club Penguin Island received mixed reviews from critics[note 1] and many negative reviews from some of the original game's old players upon its worldwide release for lacking many features of the original version at launch as well as a lack of features for non-subscribers.[2] The 1.8 update, released on November 30, 2017, received positive reviews for adding fan-requested features and launching a PC and Mac version of the game.[9]
Despite this, the continued negative perception among fans, and intense competition from other online games, as well as from private servers of the original Club Penguin and other former Disney MMOs like Toontown Online, resulted in Club Penguin Island becoming a commercial failure.
On September 27, 2018, Disney confirmed the imminent discontinuation of Club Penguin Island in a letter obtained by the website Kotaku,[10] as well as in an official blog post.[11] It was removed from Google Play and the App Store on November 20, 2018. Downloading for desktop was also removed on December 20, 2018.[12]
On November 5, 2018, the final update, version 1.13.0, was released, which included an offline mode, effectively making the game still available as a single-player experience. At 10:00 AM PST on December 20, 2018, Club Penguin Island had shut down their servers. All users that were playing Club Penguin Island at the time received an error message telling them that the connection was lost. Offline Mode was activated on December 21, 2018. Most of Club Penguin Island's URLs redirect to the official Disney website.[13]
- ^ Perez, Sarah (January 31, 2017). "Club Penguin is shutting down". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ^ a b Frank, Allegra (March 30, 2017). "No one's feeling Club Penguin's replacement". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ "Club Penguin's response to people angry about Club Penguin's closure". Club Penguin. September 6, 2017. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ "Club Penguin Island: Now Available in Australia and New Zealand!". Club Penguin. December 15, 2016. Archived from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ "Club Penguin Island Geo-Beta: Now Available in Canada!". Club Penguin. January 13, 2017. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ "Club Penguin Island Support". Club Penguin Island. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019.
- ^ "Project: Super Secret... Revealed!". Club Penguin. November 17, 2016. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ "License Credits | Club Penguin Island". Club Penguin Island. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
- ^ "Club Penguin Island Launches New Fan-Requested Features". The Disney Driven Life. December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "Club Penguin Island To Shut Down, Marking Final End Of The Beloved Children's MMO". Kotaku. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Thank You, Penguin Family | Club Penguin Island". Club Penguin Island. September 27, 2018. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ JoeDermo [@JoeDermo] (November 7, 2018). "The Club Penguin Island app will be removed from mobile stores on November 20" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ JoeDermo [@JoeDermo] (November 6, 2018). "It won't activate until after 21 December 2018" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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