Club Penguin, Disney's Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that ran from 2005 until 2017, was a formative digital playground for an entire generation. Stephen MacDonald, who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015, notes that the title peaked at more than 300 million registered accounts. The platform’s sudden disappearance was largely due to the end of Adobe Flash, and its mobile‑only successor, Club Penguin Island, failed to capture the same audience, closing its doors in December 2018, just eighteen months after launch. In recent years Roblox has become many children’s first foray into online gaming, but MacDonald argues that it cannot replace the safety‑first philosophy that Club Penguin embodied.
He explains that, traditionally, a child would progress from a preschool‑oriented product such as Peppa Pig to Club Penguin, where they learned basic online safety tools before moving on to more competitive titles like Fortnite. Today, however, the typical path jumps straight from Peppa Pig to Roblox, a shift he believes leaves younger players exposed to interactions with older users and potential predators. "In many competitive games, younger kids are essentially chum for older teens and adults," he says, "and socially the environment is far from safe." Motivated by this gap, MacDonald founded Magic Potion Games with the explicit goal of creating a spiritual successor to Club Penguin.
The venture has attracted backing from Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures, and Konvoy Ventures, and has consulted industry veterans such as Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑founder Lane Merrifield. Their flagship title, Imagine Island, is built around live moderation, age‑appropriate safety features, and a target demographic of children aged six to thirteen.
"Our mission was to return to that space and give kids coming out of preschool‑grade titles a safe, fun world before they graduate to something like Roblox," MacDonald explains. He is based in Kelowna, British Columbia, the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally developed Club Penguin in the early 2000s before Disney’s acquisition in 2007.
During his tenure, MacDonald oversaw game design and production and witnessed first‑hand the extensive safeguards Disney employed. He recounts the sheer scale of moderation: hundreds of live moderators worked around the clock to protect children’s content, collaborate with law‑enforcement agencies, and swiftly remove predatory actors.
The team also pioneered the Community Sift chat filter, a technology later acquired by Microsoft in 2021, which was considered cutting‑edge at the time. Subtle behavioral nudges were embedded as well; for example, if a player attempted to send a borderline message, the system would appear to deliver it but silently block it, creating a social cue that discouraged inappropriate language without overt censorship.
The demise of Flash doomed Club Penguin, and MacDonald believes the pivot to a mobile‑only version was misguided. "There was pressure to go mobile because everyone thought kids lived on phones, but a large segment still played on PCs. Club Penguin ran on anything—from a high‑end desktop to a toaster—making it universally accessible. That universality was part of its secret sauce," he says.
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 technical achievements but stresses a fundamental difference in DNA: Roblox began as a tools platform for creators, not as a child‑centric product. "Club Penguin was built with kids in mind from day one," he notes.
While he admires Roblox’s ability to engage audiences, he warns that platforms hosting children must take responsibility for their safety—a point underscored by a recent U.S. Senate investigation into Roblox’s child‑protection practices.
Roblox has responded with age verification for chat, a "sensitive issues" content label, and a 2024 restriction that prevents users under 13 from direct messaging. Nonetheless, MacDonald feels more can be done. Imagine Island emerged from 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, he reunited with former Club Penguin colleagues—Sascha Williams and Karin Johnson—to raise venture capital. Their pitch resonated, securing a few million dollars to prototype the new world.
Safety was baked in from day one; the team defined fundamental moderation rules before testing any fun mechanics. The gameplay loop mirrors its predecessor: players craft a custom avatar, explore a vibrant island, partake in mini‑games, complete quests, and join community challenges. Within months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million users without any paid marketing spend. Like the original, it runs in a web browser thanks to a partnership with CrazyGames, and the team plans IP collaborations and an aggressive marketing push later this year.
Moderation combines the GGWP tool with human oversight, and the developers are exploring AI‑driven pattern detection to flag risky conversations. Yet MacDonald insists that human intuition remains irreplaceable for now. "My number‑one rule is: are kids safe? Everything else comes after that," he says, likening the environment to a supervised school playground where adults keep watch.
User‑generated content is allowed, but the platform restricts asset uploads, giving the team control over visual elements. Even so, players can arrange existing assets in problematic ways, requiring additional moderation of player‑built spaces. When asked about a tongue‑in‑cheek reference to "time‑to‑penis," MacDonald laughed and confirmed it was a deliberate, albeit humorous, nod to the kind of off‑color content the team works hard to block.
He stresses that any content visible to a parent walking by should pass a "sniff test"—the game must look appropriate and safe at a glance. The pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for children, turning online spaces into social hubs akin to a digital mall.
MacDonald observes that many Roblox experiences, such as the popular Adopt Me, are direct descendants of Club Penguin mechanics like the Puffle system. He is surprised that few developers have attempted to recreate Club Penguin’s blend of fun and safety, calling it a massive untapped opportunity.
For MacDonald, the responsibility of shaping a child‑focused game feels like a moral imperative. He wants Imagine Island to be a "deposit in the world bank" rather than a withdrawal, providing a positive, lasting impact. He recalls a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to tour the original Club Penguin studio; the child’s excitement left a lasting impression on him, reinforcing his belief in the profound influence games can have on young lives. In summary, Imagine Island aims to revive the safe, inclusive spirit of Club Penguin while leveraging modern technology and a steadfast commitment to child protection.
By placing safety at the forefront, the team hopes to give the next generation a secure digital playground before they venture into the broader, less‑regulated worlds of platforms like Roblox.