Club Penguin, Disney’s Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that ran from 2005 until its shutdown in 2017, was a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of young players. According to Stephen MacDonald—who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015—the platform boasted more than 300 million registered accounts at its height.
When Adobe discontinued Flash, the beloved penguin world vanished, and its mobile successor, Club Penguin Island, failed to capture the same magic, closing its doors in December 2018 barely a year and a half after launch. In the meantime, Roblox has surged to become many children’s first foray into the broader internet, but MacDonald argues that the platform cannot replace the safety‑first design philosophy that Club Penguin championed. MacDonald explains the original progression he envisioned for kids: they would start with preschool‑level titles such as Peppa Pig, then transition to Club Penguin where they could learn the basics of online safety, before eventually moving on 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 thrust into a social environment where they interact with countless adults, and the safeguards simply aren’t sufficient." He warns that in many competitive games younger players become "chum in the water" for older teens and adults, making them vulnerable to predatory behavior. This concern 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 title, Imagine Island, is being built around live moderation, age‑appropriate safety tools, and a target audience of 6‑ to 13‑year‑olds. "Our mission was to re‑enter that space and give kids a safe stepping‑stone after preschool products," MacDonald says. "Then they can graduate to platforms like Roblox when they’re ready." MacDonald, a Kelowna, British Columbia native, grew up in the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally created Club Penguin before Disney’s acquisition in 2007. He oversaw game design and production for several years and recalls the extensive resources devoted to protecting young users.
"Few people realized the sheer scale of our safety operation," he notes. "We had hundreds of live moderators, close cooperation with law‑enforcement, and rapid removal of any predator activity." One of the flagship technologies from that era was Community Sift, a sophisticated chat‑filter and moderation system pioneered by Chris Priebe (brother of Club Penguin developer Lance Priebe) and later acquired by Microsoft in 2021. MacDonald also describes subtle behavioral nudges: if a player typed a borderline comment, the system would silently block it while showing the player that the message never reached others, gently teaching them what language was acceptable. The demise of Flash sealed Club Penguin’s fate, and while MacDonald was not involved with the mobile‑only Club Penguin Island, he believes the shift to a single‑device focus was misguided.
"There was pressure to go mobile because ‘all kids are on phones,’ but a large portion of our audience still accessed the game on PCs, even on low‑end hardware—essentially any device that could run a browser. That universality was part of the secret sauce." Since then, 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 tool‑creation platform for developers of all ages, not as a children‑first environment. "Club Penguin was built with kids in mind from day one," he says. He also points out that Roblox has recently faced scrutiny over child‑safety concerns.
The U.S. Senate opened an investigation, accusing the platform of prioritizing revenue over protecting minors. In response, Roblox introduced age verification for chat, a "sensitive issues" content label in 2025, and in 2024 disabled direct messaging for users under 13.
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 following his studio’s closure, MacDonald re‑connected with former colleagues—Sascha Williams and Karin Johnson—to raise venture capital and prototype the new world. Their fundraising succeeded, allowing them to build a safety‑first product before focusing on fun.
The gameplay loop mirrors the original: players craft a personalized avatar, explore a vibrant island, engage in minigames, complete quests, and join community challenges. Within months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million users without any paid marketing.
The game runs in browsers thanks to a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s cross‑platform accessibility. Safety remains the north star. In addition to human moderators, the studio employs the GGWP moderation suite and explores AI‑driven tools to flag risky conversations.
MacDonald stresses that, for now, human intuition outperforms AI, but they plan to integrate more automation as the user base scales. User‑generated content is permitted, but the platform restricts asset uploads, allowing the team to control visual elements. Nevertheless, they monitor how players arrange existing assets to prevent inappropriate configurations. When asked about a quirky internal term—"time‑to‑penis"—MacDonald laughed, explaining it refers to the moment a child might unintentionally create a suggestive shape with in‑game objects, prompting the team to refine safeguards.
He likens the experience to an elementary school playground: children can roam in small groups, but vigilant adults watch over the space to keep predators at bay. The team conducts an "over‑the‑shoulder" test, imagining a parent walking by and asking what the child is playing. If the answer passes a parental sniff test, the game meets its safety criteria.
The pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for children, many of whom spent formative years online. MacDonald observes that Roblox’s "Adopt Me" mirrors Club Penguin’s beloved Puffle system, demonstrating how core mechanics persist across generations.
Yet he is surprised by the scarcity of games that truly inherit Club Penguin’s ethos, seeing a massive opportunity to fill that gap. For MacDonald, the responsibility of shaping a child‑focused platform feels like a deposit into a global “good‑will bank.” He recalls a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to the Club Penguin studio; drawing the child as a penguin left a lasting emotional impact, reinforcing his belief that games can be profoundly meaningful. Imagine Island aims to be that meaningful, safe haven for today’s kids, offering a bridge between preschool entertainment and the more open, less regulated realms of platforms like Roblox.
As the December launch approaches, MacDonald remains optimistic that a well‑moderated, fun‑filled island can recapture the spirit of the original penguin world while protecting the next generation of online explorers.