Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned, Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that operated from 2005 until its closure in 2017, was a defining digital playground for an entire generation of youngsters. 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 zenith, making it one of the most widely used child‑focused online worlds of its era. The demise of Adobe Flash effectively ended the original penguin‑filled universe, and the subsequent mobile‑only follow‑up, Club Penguin Island, never managed to capture the same magic. Launched in early 2017, the new title was shuttered by December 2018 after a brief, under‑whelming run.
In the vacuum left by those two closures, Roblox has risen to become many children’s first foray into the broader internet. Yet MacDonald argues that Roblox, for all its popularity, cannot replicate the safety‑first design philosophy that made Club Penguin a trusted space for young users. "A typical progression used to be: a child starts with a preschool‑oriented brand like Peppa Pig, then graduates to Club Penguin where they learn the basics of online safety and how to interact responsibly.
After mastering those lessons, they might move on to something more competitive such as Fortnite," MacDonald explains. "Today the path looks different.
Kids jump straight from Peppa Pig to Roblox, and that leap skips a crucial safety checkpoint. The social tools in Roblox expose them to a far larger adult audience, and many of those interactions are not suitably filtered for a six‑to‑thirteen‑year‑old." He adds that in many competitive games younger players become "chum in the water" for older teens and adults, making them vulnerable to predatory behaviour. This concern is the primary driver behind his newest venture, Magic Potion Games, which aims to deliver a spiritual successor to Club Penguin that restores the rigorous moderation and age‑appropriate safeguards that were once taken for granted.
Backed by investors such as Square Enix, 1AM Gaming, 1Up Ventures, and Konvoy Ventures, and guided by industry veterans including Bungie co‑founder Alex Seropian and Club Penguin co‑founder Lane Merrifield, the company has built a new title called Imagine Island. The game is explicitly targeted at children aged six to thirteen and places live moderation and built‑in safety mechanisms at the heart of its design. "Our mission was simple: go back to that safe, whimsical space and give kids a bridge from preschool content to the wider internet," MacDonald says.
"We want them to graduate to platforms like Roblox only after they’ve learned how to protect themselves online." MacDonald is a native of Kelowna, British Columbia—the same region where New Horizon Interactive first created Club Penguin in the early 2000s before Disney acquired the IP in 2007. He spent several years overseeing Club Penguin’s game design and production, and he vividly recalls the extensive measures the team employed to keep the community secure. "Very few people realized how much effort went into safeguarding kids," he notes.
"We had hundreds of live moderators on shift around the clock, a sophisticated chat‑filter system, and close cooperation with law‑enforcement agencies to flag and remove predators as quickly as possible." One of those innovations was Community Sift, a chat‑filter and moderation engine originally spearheaded by Chris Priebe (brother of Club Penguin developer Lance Priebe). The technology was later acquired by Microsoft in 2021 and remains a benchmark for real‑time content moderation.
Beyond algorithmic filters, the team also employed subtle behavioural nudges. For example, if a player attempted to send a borderline comment, the system would silently block the message while showing the sender a visual cue that the remark never reached anyone else—much like telling a joke that falls flat in a silent room. This approach gently taught users which language was acceptable without outright bans, fostering a self‑regulating community.
When Flash finally died, Club Penguin could not survive the transition. MacDonald, who was not involved in the mobile‑only Club Penguin Island, believes the shift to a smartphone‑first model was a misstep.
"There was a lot of pressure to chase the mobile market, under the assumption that every child was on a phone. In reality, a huge segment of our audience still played on PCs because the original game ran anywhere—from a desktop to a toaster‑powered netbook.
That universality was part of the secret sauce," he reflects. Since Club Penguin’s shutdown, Roblox’s user base has exploded—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 and its ability to capture a massive audience, but he stresses that the platform was never designed as a children‑first product. "Roblox started as a tools platform for creators, not a kid‑centric environment.
Its DNA is fundamentally different from Club Penguin, which was built from the ground up for children," he says. "We do give credit where it’s due—Roblox has redefined how user‑generated content can thrive—but the responsibility to protect kids on such a massive platform is still being debated." Indeed, the U.S. Senate recently opened an inquiry into Roblox, alleging that the company may prioritize revenue and engagement over child safety.
In response, Roblox introduced age verification for chat in early 2024 and, later that year, restricted direct messaging for users under 13. While these steps are welcome, MacDonald believes they are reactive rather than proactive. Imagine Island was born from a simple question: "What are the core DNA elements of Club Penguin that we can carry forward, and how do we adapt them for a new generation that plays differently?" After leaving Electronic Arts in 2023—following the closure of his studio—MacDonald reunited with former Club Penguin colleagues Sascha Williams and Karin Johnson.
Together they pitched the concept to venture capitalists, secured a few million dollars, and began prototyping the new world with safety as the non‑negotiable foundation. The gameplay loop mirrors the original’s charm: players craft a custom avatar, explore a vibrant island, complete quests, engage in minigames, and participate in community challenges.
Within a few months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million registered users—all without a traditional marketing spend. The game is accessible via web browsers thanks to a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s cross‑platform accessibility.
Safety remains the top priority. In addition to human moderators, the studio employs the GGWP moderation suite and is actively testing AI‑driven tools that can detect problematic conversation patterns. MacDonald stresses that, for now, human intuition outperforms artificial intelligence, but he envisions a future where AI assists moderators at scale.
User‑generated content is permitted, but the system restricts asset uploads, allowing the team to control visual elements while still offering creative freedom. "Players can rearrange existing assets, which sometimes leads to unexpected or inappropriate configurations," MacDonald admits. "That’s why we have layered moderation that reviews not just text, but also the way spaces are built." When asked about a puzzling phrase that appeared in early testing logs—"time‑to‑penis"—MacDonald laughed and clarified that it was a tongue‑in‑cheek reference to the kind of edge‑case language the original game silently blocked while giving the sender the impression their comment was ignored. The phrase now serves as an internal shorthand for the kind of subtle content‑filtering the team strives to perfect.
He reiterates that the ultimate test is the parental "over‑the‑shoulder" check: "If a parent walked by and asked what their child was playing, would the screen content pass a reasonable sniff test? That’s the lens we keep in mind for every design decision." The pandemic amplified the importance of virtual spaces for children. MacDonald notes that many youngsters, isolated from physical peers, turned to online worlds as a primary social outlet, making the need for safe, moderated environments more urgent than ever. He draws a parallel between Roblox’s wildly popular "Adopt Me!" and Club Penguin’s beloved Puffle system, illustrating how core gameplay loops persist across generations.
Despite the clear demand, few developers have attempted to recreate the wholesome, safety‑centric experience that Club Penguin offered. "It blows my mind that the market is still wide open for a true successor," MacDonald says. "I feel a responsibility as a developer to contribute something positive, a deposit rather than a withdrawal from the cultural bank." He recalls a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation arranged for a terminally ill child to tour the Club Penguin studio. "We drew them as a penguin, and seeing the joy on their face was a punch to the heart.
It reminded me that games can be far more than entertainment—they can be lifelines." Imagine Island aims to honor that legacy while leveraging modern technology and a renewed commitment to child safety. With aggressive marketing plans slated for the coming months and a December launch event on the horizon, MacDonald hopes the new island will become the safe harbor that today’s children need before they venture into the broader, less regulated digital seas.