Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned Flash MMO that ran from 2005 until 2017, shaped the online experiences of an entire generation. According to Stephen MacDonald—who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015—the platform once boasted more than 300 million registered accounts at its height.
The end of Adobe Flash, however, forced the beloved penguin world to shut down, and its mobile‑only successor, Club Penguin Island, failed to capture the same magic, closing its doors in December 2018 just eighteen months after launch. Today, many children’s first foray into the internet comes via Roblox. While Roblox has become a cultural juggernaut, MacDonald argues that it cannot replace the safety‑first philosophy that Club Penguin championed.
He explains that a typical progression used to be: a preschool‑grade title such as Peppa Pig, followed by Club Penguin where kids learned basic online safety tools, and then, after mastering those fundamentals, they would graduate to more competitive experiences like Fortnite. "Now kids jump straight from Peppa Pig to Roblox," he says, "and that leap is too abrupt for their age. They are exposed to adult‑centric social tools and competitive environments before they are ready, making them vulnerable to predatory behavior." In response, MacDonald founded Magic Potion Games with the explicit goal of delivering a spiritual successor to Club Penguin.
Backed by investors such as Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures and Konvoy Ventures, and advised by industry veterans—including Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑founder Lane Merrifield—the studio is developing Imagine Island, a game built around live moderation and age‑appropriate safety features for children aged six to thirteen. "Our mission was to return to that safe space for kids transitioning from preschool‑level entertainment," MacDonald explains. "We want a platform where they can enjoy a fun world before moving on to something like Roblox or other larger ecosystems." MacDonald lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally created Club Penguin before Disney’s 2007 acquisition. He oversaw game design and production for Club Penguin for several years and recalls the extensive measures taken to protect young players.
"Few people realized how many live moderators we employed—hundreds of staff whose sole job was to keep the chat clean and to work with law‑enforcement agencies to remove predators as quickly as possible," he says. The team also pioneered the Community Sift chat filter, a technology later acquired by Microsoft in 2021, which was cutting‑edge for its era. Beyond technical safeguards, Club Penguin used subtle behavioral nudges. MacDonald cites an example where a player typed a borderline comment; the system silently blocked the message while showing the player that it had been ignored, prompting them to try a different, more appropriate phrase.
This form of social engineering helped steer the community toward acceptable language without overt censorship. The original game's demise was tied to Flash's obsolescence, and while MacDonald was not involved with Club Penguin Island, he believes the mobile‑only pivot missed the mark. "There was pressure to go mobile because everyone was on phones, but a large portion of our audience still accessed the game on PCs, even on low‑spec machines—we joked it could run on a toaster.
That universal accessibility was part of the secret sauce." Since Club Penguin’s shutdown, Roblox has exploded, growing from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million in Q4 2025, according to Statista. MacDonald notes that Roblox began as a tool‑creation platform rather than a child‑centric product, which fundamentally differentiates its DNA from Club Penguin’s.
He admires Roblox’s ability to attract massive audiences but stresses that platforms hosting children bear a heightened duty of care. Recent U.S. Senate scrutiny of Roblox highlighted concerns that the platform prioritizes revenue and engagement over child safety.
Roblox has since introduced age verification for chat, a "sensitive issues" content label, and restrictions on direct messaging for users under thirteen. Imagine Island was conceived by asking, "What core DNA of Club Penguin should we carry forward, and how do we adapt it 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—to raise venture capital and bring the vision to life.
They secured a few million dollars to prototype the game, placing safety at the forefront: establishing strict moderation rules before layering in fun mechanics. The gameplay loop mirrors the original’s charm: players design a personalized avatar, explore a vibrant island, tackle mini‑games, complete quests, and join community challenges. Within months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million users without any major marketing spend.
The title is accessible via web browsers through a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s cross‑platform reach, and the team plans IP collaborations and a broader marketing push later this year. Safety remains the non‑negotiable pillar.
Imagine Island employs the GGWP moderation suite alongside human moderators, and the studio is actively exploring AI tools that can flag risky conversation patterns. "My number‑one rule is: are the kids safe? Everything else comes after that," MacDonald emphasizes.
He likens the environment to an elementary school playground: children can roam in groups, but vigilant adults watch to keep predators out. While AI is promising, MacDonald believes human intuition still outperforms automated systems. "AI isn’t yet at the level of a human moderator’s gut feeling, but as we scale we’ll integrate more intelligent tools," he says.
The game also restricts user‑generated content to pre‑approved assets, limiting the potential for inappropriate creations, though he acknowledges that even arranging approved assets in harmful ways requires careful oversight. When asked about the phrase "time‑to‑penis"—a colloquial term for inadvertent vulgar shapes forming in virtual spaces—MacDonald laughed, confirming it’s an inside joke the team monitors. He stresses that any content that could be misinterpreted must be filtered, ensuring a parent walking by would see only age‑appropriate visuals.
The pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for children, making online social spaces as vital as physical ones. MacDonald notes that many Roblox experiences, such as the popular "Adopt Me!" game, are direct descendants of Club Penguin’s Puffle system, illustrating how the original’s mechanics continue to influence modern titles. Reflecting on the scarcity of safe, child‑focused MMOs, MacDonald says, "It blows my mind how few games have tried to fill Club Penguin’s shoes.
There’s a huge opportunity." He feels a personal responsibility to deliver a positive message through his work, describing his contribution as a "deposit in the world bank" rather than a withdrawal. A poignant memory that fuels his drive is a Make‑A‑Wish visit where a terminally ill child toured the Club Penguin studio; the experience left him with a lasting sense of the profound impact games can have on young lives.
In summary, Imagine Island aims to recreate the wholesome, protected environment that made Club Penguin a cultural touchstone, while integrating modern technology and a steadfast commitment to child safety. By doing so, it hopes to give today’s children a safe digital playground before they venture into the broader, less regulated worlds of platforms like Roblox.