On January 31, 2017, Disney declared that Club Penguin will be shutting down on March 29, 2017 after 11 years of fun. In replace of the game, Disney is developing a replacement, called Club Penguin Island. The fact that Club Penguin will be shutting down is bittersweet for the generation that grew up with the exciting virtual world.

Club Penguin was introduced to the internet on October 2005 where a virtual community of penguin avatars roam around numerous fictional locations in the Antarctic, such as a coffeehouse, underground pool, and a ninja themed location based off of a card game. The users could chat, meet new friends, play games, buy accessories for their avatar, and build their home with virtual accessories. Due to its increasing fan base, Disney bought the entire game for 700 million in 2007.

At that time, the computer game had over 12 million users and by 2013, that number had grown to 200 million.

The primary problem that led to the loss in popularity for Club Penguin is that there are many new social apps that are getting children’s attention that were not available during the height of the game. Apps such as YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Kik offered new forms of social media for children to enjoy. Adding to that, the Google Play store and App store have thousands of attention grabbing games for kids as well.

Disney will be replacing Club Penguin with a new game called Club Penguin Island. Similar to the original, the new game will be based on an island where penguin avatars make new friends, try new exciting food, play cool games, and seek new adventures.
Most of the generation that have been playing Club Penguin since it has started are not very fond of the idea of a new game taking place of the original online game, however.

As upsetting as it sounds, the new game will not be a desktop game like Club Penguin. Instead, it will only be available on mobile devices.

On February 1st, the beginning of the end started, and the game has released final content for players to enjoy before the game disappears. Club Penguin is holding a celebration for users so they can soak up all the fun before it ends.

As for those users who paid for their memberships, it was declared that as of January 31st and on those members can enjoy an unlimited access to anything in the game until March 29th. Adding to that memberships will no longer be sold.