Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned, Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that ran from 2005 until its shutdown in 2017, was a defining digital playground for a whole generation of youngsters. According to Stephen MacDonald – who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015 – the platform peaked with more than 300 million registered accounts, a testament to its massive reach and cultural impact. The demise of Adobe Flash effectively ended the original penguin world, and the later mobile‑only spin‑off, Club Penguin Island, failed to capture the same magic, closing its doors in December 2018, just eighteen months after launch.
In the meantime, Roblox has surged to become many children’s first foray into the broader online universe. Yet MacDonald argues that Roblox does not replicate the safety‑first philosophy that made Club Penguin a trusted space for young users. "Kids used to graduate from preschool‑level titles like Peppa Pig to Club Penguin, where they learned basic online safety tools and etiquette. After that, they would move on to more competitive titles such as Fortnite," he explains.
"Now the path is Peppa Pig straight to Roblox, and that leap is too abrupt for kids who are not yet ready to navigate the adult‑heavy social tools and potential predators that populate many competitive games." He warns that in many battle‑royale or shooter environments, younger players become "chum in the water" for older teens and adults, exposing them to unsafe interactions and predatory behavior. This concern is the driving force behind MacDonald’s new venture, Magic Potion Games, which aims to create 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 company is developing Imagine Island – a browser‑based MMO that emphasizes live moderation, age‑appropriate safety mechanisms, and a target demographic of 6‑ to 13‑year‑olds. "Our goal was to return to that safe‑first space, offering something that feels like a natural next step after a preschool title," MacDonald says.
"Then, when children are ready, they can graduate to platforms like Roblox or beyond." MacDonald lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally built Club Penguin before Disney acquired it in 2007. He spent several years overseeing game design and production on the original platform and recalls the extensive measures taken to protect young players. "Very few people realized how much effort went into safeguarding our community," he notes.
"We employed hundreds of live moderators whose sole job was to monitor chat, filter content, and work closely with law‑enforcement to remove predators as quickly as possible." He also points to the pioneering technology known as Community Sift – a chat‑filter and moderation suite created by Chris Priebe (brother of Club Penguin developer Lance Priebe) that Microsoft later acquired in 2021. At the time, it was cutting‑edge and set a high bar for real‑time safety.
Beyond brute‑force moderation, Club Penguin used subtle behavioral nudges. For example, if a player typed something edgy, the system would silently block the message while showing the player that it seemed to have been sent, creating a social cue that the comment was unwelcome. "It’s like telling a joke that falls flat – the player feels the discomfort and learns to adjust," MacDonald explains. "We could therefore engineer the social environment to discourage inappropriate content without heavy‑handed bans." The transition to mobile with Club Penguin Island, in MacDonald’s view, was a misstep.
"There was pressure to go mobile because everyone was on phones, but a large portion of our audience still played on PCs because the original game worked on any device – even a toaster," he recalls. "That universality was part of the secret sauce." Since Club Penguin’s closure, Roblox has exploded, growing from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million in Q4 2025, according to Statista.
MacDonald acknowledges Roblox’s impressive engagement but stresses that its origins as a developer‑tool platform, not a children‑first product, make its DNA fundamentally different from Club Penguin’s. He recounts early internal testing of Roblox titles like "Work at a Pizza Place," noting that at the time his team lacked the technology to compete with Roblox’s rapid iteration and user‑generated content model. "It was a radical departure, and we watched Minecraft, Roblox, and others reshape the market," he says. "Roblox’s success is undeniable, but the responsibility to protect kids on such a platform is often overlooked." Recent scrutiny from the U.S.
Senate highlights those concerns, with investigators claiming Roblox appears to prioritize revenue and engagement over child safety. In response, Roblox introduced age verification for chat in January 2024, a "sensitive issues" content descriptor in 2025, and blocked direct messaging for under‑13s in 2024. Imagine Island was born from a simple question: "What is the DNA of Club Penguin that we should carry forward, and how can we adapt it for a new generation that plays differently?" After leaving Electronic Arts in 2023 following the shutdown of his studio, MacDonald re‑connected with former Club Penguin colleagues – Sascha Williams and Karin Johnson – and secured venture capital to prototype the new game. "We raised a few million dollars, built a prototype, and made safety the foundation of everything," MacDonald says.
"We asked: How do we moderate? How do we ensure kids are safe online? Those rules became the core product, and then we layered on fun." Imagine Island lets players craft custom avatars, explore a vibrant island, play mini‑games, complete quests, and join community challenges. Within months of its beta launch in August, the title surpassed one million users without any paid marketing spend.
The game is accessible through a web browser thanks to a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s original cross‑platform reach. Safety remains the north star.
The platform combines the GGWP moderation suite with human oversight, and MacDonald sees great promise in AI tools that can flag risky conversation patterns. "My number‑one rule is: are kids safe?
Everything else comes after that," he emphasizes. He likens the environment to an elementary school playground: children can roam in groups during lunch, but adult supervisors watch closely to keep predators out. While AI is improving, MacDonald believes human intuition still outperforms automated systems, though he plans to integrate more AI as the player base scales.
User‑generated content is permitted, but the game restricts asset uploads, allowing the team to control visual elements. "Players can still arrange existing assets in unexpected ways, so we moderate spaces as well," he notes.
When asked about a cheeky phrase that surfaced during testing, MacDonald laughed, "Yes, that was a joke we made about 'time‑to‑penis' – we turned it into a more elegant discussion about how we prevent inappropriate shapes from appearing in the game." He reiterates that safety is the primary concern before addressing any other feature. "Kids will always test boundaries. If a parent walked by and asked what the child was playing, the game should pass the 'sniff test' – it should look appropriate and safe.
That's the lens we use for every design decision." The pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for children, many of whom spent formative years online. "Virtual presence became as vital as physical presence," MacDonald observes, noting that Roblox now functions like a digital mall for an entire generation.
Yet he sees continuity in play patterns: "Adopt Me on Roblox is essentially the modern version of Club Penguin’s Puffle system." He is surprised how few modern games have tried to replicate Club Penguin’s safe‑first formula, calling it a massive untapped opportunity. "I feel a responsibility as a developer to deliver a positive message to the world – a deposit in the world bank, not a withdrawal," he says.
"Working on Club Penguin taught me how impactful games can be." A memorable moment for MacDonald was when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to the Club Penguin studio. "We drew them as a penguin, and the experience was a punch to the heart – it showed me how powerful games can be for people in need," he recalls.
In summary, Imagine Island aims to revive the safe, community‑focused spirit of Club Penguin while leveraging modern technology and a browser‑first approach. With robust moderation, a clear age target, and a commitment to keeping child safety above all else, MacDonald believes his new platform can fill the void left by the original penguin world and provide a healthier bridge for kids before they venture into broader, less‑curated online spaces like Roblox.