Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned, Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that ran from 2005 until its shutdown in 2017, was a defining part of many kids' digital childhoods. Stephen MacDonald, who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015, notes that at its height the platform boasted more than 300 million registered accounts. When Adobe Flash was retired, the beloved penguin world vanished, and its mobile‑only follow‑up, Club Penguin Island, never managed to capture the same magic. Launched in 2017, the new title folded just a year and a half later, in December 2018, after failing to attract a sustainable audience.
In the meantime, Roblox has surged to become the first online playground for many children. Yet MacDonald argues that Roblox does not replicate the safety‑first ethos that Club Penguin championed. "Kids used to graduate from preschool‑grade experiences like Peppa Pig to Club Penguin, where they learned basic online safety tools before moving on to more competitive titles such as Fortnite," he explains.
"Now the path is Peppa Pig straight to Roblox, and that jump is too abrupt for younger players. They encounter adult‑centric social tools before they are ready, exposing them to potential predatory behaviour and other risks." MacDonald’s concerns stem from the observation that many competitive games treat younger participants as "chum in the water" for older teens and adults, creating a socially unsafe environment where predators can thrive. To address this gap, he founded Magic Potion Games, a venture backed by Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures, and Konvoy Ventures.
The studio has consulted industry veterans such as Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑creator Lane Merrifield. Their flagship project, Imagine Island, is being built with rigorous live moderation, age‑appropriate safety layers, and a target demographic of children aged six to thirteen. "Our mission was to re‑enter that safe‑play space and give kids a bridge from preschool‑grade titles to more open platforms like Roblox," MacDonald says.
"Imagine Island should act as a protective sandbox where children can explore, create, and socialize without the constant threat of inappropriate content or adult exploitation." MacDonald lives in Kelowna, British Columbia—the same region where New Horizon Interactive originally developed Club Penguin in the early 2000s before Disney acquired it in 2007. He oversaw game design and production for several years and recalls the extensive measures taken to safeguard young users. "Few people realized how much manpower went into moderation," he notes.
"We had hundreds of live moderators whose sole job was to police chat, filter content, and work with law‑enforcement to remove predators as quickly as possible. We even built the technology that became Community Sift, a sophisticated chat‑filtering system later purchased by Microsoft in 2021.
At the time it was cutting‑edge." Beyond brute‑force moderation, Club Penguin employed subtle behavioural nudges. For example, if a player typed a borderline phrase, the system would silently block it while showing the sender that the message had been delivered, creating a social cue that the comment was unwelcome.
This "social engineering" helped shape a community norm where inappropriate language simply didn’t get through. The demise of Flash sealed Club Penguin’s fate, and MacDonald believes the mobile‑only pivot to Club Penguin Island was misguided.
"There was pressure to chase the mobile market, but a large portion of our audience still played on PCs because the game ran on virtually any device—even a toaster. That universal accessibility was part of the secret sauce." Since Club Penguin’s closure, Roblox’s user base has exploded, growing from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million by 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 kid‑centric product.
Its origins are very different from Club Penguin, which was built from the ground up for children. That distinction matters when you consider safety responsibilities." He also points out that the U.S.
Senate has recently opened an investigation into Roblox, accusing the platform of prioritising revenue and engagement over child protection. Roblox has responded with age‑verification for chat, a "sensitive issues" content label, and a 2024 restriction that blocks direct messaging for users under 13.
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 and Karin Johnson—to raise venture capital and prototype the new world. The team secured a few million dollars, built a prototype, and placed safety at the forefront of every design decision.
"We first asked how to moderate effectively and keep kids safe, then we layered fun on top," MacDonald explains. Gameplay on Imagine Island mirrors the original’s structure: players craft custom avatars, explore a vibrant island, tackle minigames, complete quests, and join community challenges. The title launched in open beta in August and quickly surpassed one million users without any significant marketing spend. Like its predecessor, Imagine Island runs in a web browser thanks to a partnership with CrazyGames, and the team plans IP collaborations and a larger marketing push in the coming months, with a major launch event slated for December.
Safety remains the north star. The studio employs the GGWP moderation suite alongside human reviewers and 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 says. He likens the environment to an elementary‑school playground: children are free to roam in groups, but adult supervisors are constantly watching to keep predators out. While AI assistance is promising, MacDonald believes human intuition still outperforms machines for nuanced moderation. User‑generated content is permitted, but the game does not let players upload external assets, allowing the team to control the visual palette.
Nevertheless, players can still arrange in‑game items in ways that might be questionable, so the moderation team reviews spatial designs as well. When asked about a bizarre phrase that appeared in a chat log, MacDonald laughed, "Yes, that's exactly the kind of thing we monitor and filter out." He stresses that parental perception is a key test: "If a parent walked by and asked what the child was playing, would the screen be appropriate?
That 'over‑the‑shoulder' test guides every design choice." The COVID‑19 pandemic amplified the importance of virtual worlds for a whole generation, turning platforms like Roblox into a digital mall where social interaction continued despite physical distancing. MacDonald observes that many Roblox experiences—such as the popular Adopt Me! game—are direct descendants of Club Penguin mechanics like the Puffle system. He is surprised that few modern titles have attempted to replicate Club Penguin’s blend of safety, accessibility, and child‑focused fun, calling it a massive untapped opportunity.
"As a developer I feel a responsibility to deliver a positive message to the world," he says. "I want this to be a deposit in the world bank, not a withdrawal.
Anyone who worked on Club Penguin knows how impactful it was." MacDonald recalls a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to the Club Penguin studio. "We drew them as a penguin. It was a punch to the heart—realising how deeply video games can matter.
That memory never left me and fuels my commitment to take the medium seriously and protect its youngest users."