Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that ran from 2005 until its closure in 2017, was a defining part of many kids' digital childhoods. According to Stephen MacDonald—who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015—the platform peaked at more than 300 million registered accounts, making it one of the most widely used child‑focused online worlds of its era. The end of Adobe Flash effectively killed the original penguin‑themed universe, and the mobile‑only follow‑up, Club Penguin Island, never managed to capture the same audience. Launched in 2017, it was shuttered just a year and a half later in December 2018 after failing to gain traction on smartphones.
In the years that followed, Roblox emerged as the first online playground for many new generations. While Roblox boasts staggering growth—rising from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million in Q4 2025 according to Statista—MacDonald argues that it does not replicate the safety‑first philosophy that made Club Penguin a trusted space for young children. "A typical path used to be preschool‑level titles like Peppa Pig, then a kid would graduate to Club Penguin to learn basic online safety tools, and later move on to more competitive games like Fortnite," he explains. "Now children jump straight from Peppa Pig to Roblox, and that leap skips a crucial safety education step.
The social tools in Roblox expose kids to adult interaction and competitive environments they aren’t prepared for, making them vulnerable to predatory behaviour and other risks." To address this gap, MacDonald founded Magic Potion Games with the explicit goal of creating a spiritual successor to Club Penguin. Backed by investors such as Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures, and Konvoy Ventures, and guided by industry veterans including Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑founder Lane Merrifield, the studio is developing Imagine Island. The new title targets children aged 6‑13 and places live moderation and age‑appropriate safety mechanisms at its core. "Our mission was to return to that niche where a preschool product hands a child off to a safe online world, and then that child can later graduate to platforms like Roblox," MacDonald says.
"Imagine Island is designed to be that safe stepping stone." MacDonald lives in Kelowna, British Columbia—the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally built Club Penguin before Disney’s acquisition in 2007. He spent several years overseeing game design and production for Club Penguin and recalls the extensive safeguards the original team employed.
"Few people realize how many live moderators we employed—hundreds of staff whose sole job was to protect kids’ content and keep bad actors out," he notes. "We worked closely with law‑enforcement agencies to flag and remove predators as quickly as possible." One of the flagship tools from that era was Community Sift, a chat‑filter and moderation system pioneered by Chris Priebe (brother of Club Penguin developer Lance Priebe). Microsoft purchased the technology in 2021, underscoring its lasting impact.
Beyond automated filters, the team used subtle behavioural nudges. For example, if a player typed something edgy, the system would silently block the message while showing the player that the comment never reached others, creating a social pressure that discouraged inappropriate language. The transition to mobile with Club Penguin Island, in MacDonald’s view, was a misstep.
"There was pressure to go mobile‑only because everyone seemed to be on phones, but a large segment of our audience still accessed the game on PCs, even on low‑end hardware. The original game ran on virtually any device—from a desktop to a toaster—making it universally accessible. That accessibility was part of its magic." Roblox’s meteoric rise has been undeniable, but MacDonald stresses that the platform was never built specifically for children.
"Roblox started as a toolbox for creators, not a kid‑centric product. Its DNA is fundamentally different from Club Penguin, which was engineered from the ground up for a young audience." He does acknowledge Roblox’s achievements in engaging users, recalling a moment when his team tried the popular "Work at a Pizza Place" game on Roblox and realized they were facing a formidable competitor. "We didn’t have the technology to match Roblox’s rapid iteration and user‑generated content model at the time, and that signaled a shift in the industry," he says.
Nevertheless, MacDonald believes that platforms hosting children bear a heightened responsibility. The U.S. Senate recently opened an investigation into Roblox, alleging that the company prioritises revenue and engagement metrics over child safety.
Roblox has responded with incremental safety features—age verification for chat, a "sensitive issues" content tag, and a 2024 restriction that blocks direct messaging for users under 13—but MacDonald feels more can be done. Imagine Island was conceived by asking a simple question: "What are the core DNA elements of Club Penguin that we should carry forward, and how can we adapt them for a new generation that plays differently?" After leaving Electronic Arts in 2023, MacDonald reunited with former Club Penguin colleagues Sascha Williams and Karin Johnson, secured several million dollars in venture capital, and began prototyping the new world. The gameplay loop mirrors the original’s charm: players craft a custom avatar, explore a vibrant island, partake in minigames, complete quests, and join community challenges. Within months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million users without any substantial marketing spend.
The game is also available in browsers through a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s cross‑platform accessibility. Safety remains the non‑negotiable priority. The studio employs the GGWP moderation suite alongside a team of human moderators. While AI tools are being explored to flag risky conversation patterns, MacDonald cautions that current AI cannot yet replace human intuition.
"Human moderators can read context and nuance that algorithms miss. As we scale, AI will assist, but it won’t replace people." User‑generated content is permitted, but the platform restricts asset uploads to maintain control over visual elements.
Even so, players can arrange existing assets in ways that might be problematic, so the moderation team reviews in‑game spaces continuously. When asked about a cryptic phrase that appeared in an early interview—"time‑to‑penis"—MacDonald laughed and clarified that it was a tongue‑in‑cheek reference to the kind of subtle behavioural cues the original game used to discourage inappropriate jokes.
He reiterated that any content that could be misinterpreted or lead to uncomfortable situations is filtered out. MacDonald also reflects on how the COVID‑19 pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for children. With many kids confined to homes, online spaces became essential for social interaction, making robust safety measures even more critical. He draws parallels between Roblox’s popular "Adopt Me!" game and Club Penguin’s classic Puffle system, noting that the core desire for nurturing and collection experiences persists across generations.
The scarcity of safe, child‑focused MMOs today surprises him. "It blows my mind that so few developers have tried to fill Club Penguin’s shoes. There’s a massive opportunity to create a wholesome digital playground," he says. Finally, MacDonald sees his role as a steward of a broader cultural legacy.
"As a developer, I feel a responsibility to contribute positively to the world. I want Imagine Island to be a deposit in the global cultural bank, not a withdrawal.
Working on Club Penguin showed me how powerful games can be for kids, and that lesson drives everything we do today." He recounts a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to the Club Penguin studio. The child drew a penguin, and the experience left a lasting emotional imprint on MacDonald, reinforcing his belief that video games can have profound, life‑affirming impacts. In summary, Imagine Island aims to revive the safe, inclusive spirit of Club Penguin while adapting to modern expectations and technology.
By combining rigorous human moderation, thoughtful design, and a clear focus on child safety, the project seeks to give the next generation a secure online haven before they venture into broader, less‑controlled digital arenas like Roblox.