Club Penguin Island, the mobile continuation of the long-running Disney, winter-themed MMO, is due to shut down in the near future, with all staff who have been working on the project for the past couple of years set to be let go. The move comes a year and a half after the original Club Penguin was shut down, ending a 13-year legacy for the children's-focused MMO.
Originally purchased by Disney in 2005 for a cool $700 million, Club Penguin once played host to thousands of kids all over the world, offering typical MMO-like activities, but without the combat and raiding mechanics. There were activities, socializing elements, and games to play, but over the years its player base did wane as kids grew up and new ones failed to replace them.
When Club Penguin was originally shut down, adults who once populated its various environments as children returned, turning the game into a speedrun exercise to see who could be banned the fastest. Club Penguin Island has enjoyed similar speedrun attempts, though not to the same extent.
If you want to try and get your own record run in, you'll want to do it soon. Although we know that the game is shutting down for good and that the developers have been given five weeks of severance pay and benefits (as per Kotaku), it is still available at the time of writing. Chances are it won't last long, as the Disney blog post addressing the matter is quite final.
"Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued dedication to the Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island games and for being a member of our family," it reads. "We are so grateful to have shared in this journey with you. We’re excited to bring you more new experiences around all of Disney’s beloved characters and stories across all platforms."
