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 an entire generation of kids. Stephen MacDonald, who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015, recalls that at its height the platform boasted more than 300 million registered accounts.
The end of Adobe Flash effectively ended the original penguin universe, and the mobile‑only follow‑up, Club Penguin Island, never managed to capture the same magic – it closed its doors in December 2018, barely a year and a half after launch. In the years that followed, Roblox emerged as many children’s first foray into an online social gaming environment. While Roblox has grown into a cultural juggernaut, MacDonald argues that it cannot replace the safety‑first philosophy that Club Penguin embodied. "A typical path used to be preschool‑grade content like Peppa Pig, then a kid would graduate to Club Penguin where they learned how to stay safe online, pick up basic moderation tools, and then later move on to more competitive titles like Fortnite," he explains.
"Today the trajectory is Peppa Pig straight to Roblox, and that leap is too abrupt for young children. They encounter adult‑oriented social tools before they’re ready, exposing them to predators and other risks." These concerns motivated MacDonald to launch Magic Potion Games, a studio backed by Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures, and Konvoy Ventures, and advised by industry veterans such as Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑founder Lane Merrifield. Their flagship project, Imagine Island, is designed as a spiritual successor to Club Penguin, with live moderation, age‑appropriate safety mechanisms, and a target audience of children aged six to thirteen. "Our mission was to re‑enter that safe‑space niche and give kids a bridge from preschool‑grade apps to broader online experiences," MacDonald says.
"We want them to have a secure environment first, then graduate to platforms like Roblox when they’re mature enough." MacDonald is based in Kelowna, British Columbia – the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally built Club Penguin in the early 2000s before Disney’s acquisition in 2007. He spent several years overseeing game design and production on the original title and remembers the extensive measures taken to protect young users. "Few people realized the scale of our safety operation," he notes.
"We employed hundreds of live moderators who screened every chat, worked closely with law‑enforcement to flag predators, and built proprietary filtering technology that later became Community Sift, which Microsoft purchased in 2021." Beyond brute‑force moderation, the team used subtle behavioural nudges. For example, if a player typed a borderline comment, the system would silently block it while making it appear to other players as if the message had been delivered, creating a social cue that discouraged inappropriate language.
"It’s like telling a joke that falls flat – the player feels the discomfort and adjusts," MacDonald explains. "We could steer the community toward acceptable content without heavy‑handed censorship." The demise of Flash forced Club Penguin’s closure, and the subsequent mobile‑only version, Club Penguin Island, was, in MacDonald’s view, a misstep. "There was pressure to go mobile because everyone was on smartphones, but a large slice of our audience still accessed the game on PCs, even on low‑end machines – the original game ran on a toaster. That universality was part of its secret sauce." Since then, Roblox’s user base has exploded, rising from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million in Q4 2025 according to Statista.
MacDonald acknowledges Roblox’s technical achievements but stresses a fundamental difference in DNA. "Roblox started as a tool platform for creators, not a children‑first product.
Club Penguin was built from the ground up with kids in mind, and that design intent matters." He also points out that Roblox has recently faced scrutiny over child safety. The U.S. Senate opened an investigation, accusing the platform of prioritising revenue and engagement over protecting minors. Roblox responded by requiring age verification for chat in 2024 and restricting direct messaging for users under 13 in 2025, but MacDonald believes more responsibility is needed.
Imagine Island was conceived by asking a simple question: "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, who once ran the original studio, and Karin Johnson, his former party‑team lead – to pitch the idea to venture capitalists. The team secured a few million dollars, built a prototype, and placed safety at the forefront of every design decision. In Imagine Island, players customise avatars, explore a vibrant island world, complete quests, play a variety of minigames, and take part in community challenges. The game reached one million users within months of its beta launch in August, despite virtually no spend on marketing.
It is available in browsers through a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s original cross‑platform accessibility. Safety remains the non‑negotiable pillar of the project. The studio employs the GGWP moderation suite alongside human moderators, and they are 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 emphasises.
He likens the environment to an elementary school playground: children are free to roam in groups, but trusted adults constantly monitor the space to keep predators out. While AI is promising, MacDonald cautions that human intuition still outperforms automated systems. "We’ll scale with AI where it makes sense, but a human eye is essential for nuanced judgement." Imagine Island also restricts user‑generated content to prevent the upload of arbitrary assets; players can rearrange pre‑approved items, but the studio retains full control over what can appear in the world.
This approach reduces the risk of inappropriate constructions while still allowing creative expression. When asked about a humorous phrase that has become an inside joke among the team – "time‑to‑penis" – MacDonald laughed, explaining that it refers to the subtle ways the system blocks edgy language while still giving players feedback that their comment didn’t go through. He stresses that any content that could be misinterpreted is carefully filtered to ensure a parent walking by would see nothing objectionable. The COVID‑19 pandemic, according to MacDonald, amplified the importance of safe virtual spaces for children.
With many youngsters confined to homes, online worlds became extensions of their social lives, turning platforms like Roblox into a virtual mall for a generation. Yet he notes that the core play patterns have not changed dramatically; features such as Roblox’s "Adopt Me" echo Club Penguin’s beloved Puffle system almost verbatim. MacDonald is surprised by the scarcity of games that have attempted to fill Club Penguin’s niche. "It blows my mind that so few have tried to recreate that safe, child‑centric experience.
There’s a massive opportunity here," he says. He feels a deep responsibility as a developer to contribute positively. "I want our work to be a deposit in the world’s cultural bank, not a withdrawal.
Anyone who worked on Club Penguin knows how impactful it was for kids." A poignant memory he shares is a Make‑A‑Wish visit where a terminally ill child toured the Club Penguin studio. "We drew them as a penguin, and the joy on their face was a punch to the heart. It reminded me how vital games can be in people’s lives, and why we must treat that influence with seriousness," he reflects.
In summary, Imagine Island aims to resurrect the safe, whimsical spirit of Club Penguin while integrating modern technology and a rigorous moderation framework. By targeting children aged six to thirteen and prioritising live human oversight, the game aspires to offer a secure stepping stone between preschool entertainment and the broader, less‑regulated worlds of platforms like Roblox. The studio’s vision is to give parents peace of mind, give kids a fun, protected place to explore, and ultimately prove that a child‑first online universe can still thrive in today’s digital landscape.