Club Penguin, the Disney‑owned, Flash‑based massively multiplayer online game that entertained kids from 2005 until its shutdown in 2017, was a formative digital playground for an entire generation. According to Stephen MacDonald—who served as a senior manager at Disney between 2012 and 2015—the platform peaked with more than 300 million registered accounts.
The demise of Adobe Flash effectively ended that penguin‑filled universe, and the mobile‑only follow‑up, Club Penguin Island, failed to capture the same magic, closing its doors in December 2018 just eighteen months after launch. In the years that followed, Roblox has emerged as many children’s first foray into online gaming.
Yet MacDonald argues that Roblox cannot replace the safety‑first philosophy that defined Club Penguin. He explains that, traditionally, a child’s digital journey began with a preschool‑grade title such as Peppa Pig, then moved on to Club Penguin where they learned basic online safety tools and etiquette before “graduating” to more competitive experiences like Fortnite. Today, however, the progression often jumps straight from Peppa Pig to Roblox, a leap MacDonald believes is too risky for young users.
He warns that children are thrust into environments where they must interact with numerous adults and encounter competitive games that can make them vulnerable to predatory behavior. To address this gap, MacDonald founded Magic Potion Games with the explicit goal of creating a spiritual successor to Club Penguin. 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 studio is developing Imagine Island.
The new title emphasizes live moderation, age‑appropriate safety mechanisms, and a target audience of children aged six to thirteen. “Our mission was to return to that safe space for kids coming out of preschool‑level apps,” MacDonald says. “We want them to have a secure environment before they move on to broader platforms like Roblox.” MacDonald, a native of Kelowna, British Columbia, grew up near the original development hub for Club Penguin—New Horizon Interactive—before Disney acquired the property in 2007. He oversaw game design and production for several years and witnessed firsthand the extensive measures taken to protect young players.
“Most people don’t realize how many live moderators we employed—hundreds of staff whose sole job was to safeguard kids’ content and keep predators off the platform,” he notes. The team also collaborated closely with law‑enforcement agencies to expedite the removal of malicious actors. One of the technical breakthroughs from that era was Community Sift, a sophisticated chat‑filter and moderation system spearheaded by Chris Priebe (brother of Club Penguin developer Lance Priebe).
Microsoft acquired the technology in 2021, underscoring its lasting value. Beyond automated filters, the original game employed subtle behavioral nudges.
For example, if a player typed a borderline comment, the system would silently block it while showing the player that the message never reached others, creating a social feedback loop that discouraged inappropriate language. Flash’s obsolescence ultimately killed Club Penguin, and MacDonald believes the mobile‑only pivot with Club Penguin Island was a misstep. “There was pressure to go mobile because everyone thought kids only used phones,” he recalls. “But a huge 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, rising from 13.7 million daily active users in Q4 2018 to 144 million in Q4 2025, according to Statista. MacDonald acknowledges Roblox’s impressive growth and its origins as a tool‑creation platform rather than a child‑centric product.
“Club Penguin was built from the ground up for kids; Roblox started as a sandbox for creators,” he explains. While he admires Roblox’s ability to engage audiences, he stresses that platforms hosting children bear a heightened responsibility for safety—a responsibility he feels is not being fully met.
Recent scrutiny from the U.S. Senate highlights these concerns, with investigations suggesting Roblox may prioritize revenue and engagement over child protection.
In response, Roblox introduced age verification for chat in January 2025, added a “sensitive issues” content descriptor, and in 2024 disabled direct messaging for users under thirteen. Imagine Island was conceived by asking a simple question: “What core DNA of Club Penguin should we carry forward, and how can 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 seek venture capital. Their pitch resonated, and they secured several million dollars to prototype the new world. The gameplay loop mirrors the original’s charm: players craft a custom avatar, explore a vibrant island, tackle mini‑games, complete quests, and join community challenges.
Within months of its beta launch in August, Imagine Island surpassed one million users without any major marketing spend. The game is available in browsers through a partnership with CrazyGames, echoing Club Penguin’s cross‑platform accessibility. Safety remains the cornerstone of development. In addition to a team of human moderators, Imagine Island employs the GGWP moderation suite and explores AI‑driven tools to flag risky conversation patterns.
“My number one rule is: are the kids safe? Everything else comes after that,” MacDonald asserts. He likens the environment to a supervised school playground—children can roam in groups, but vigilant adults watch over them to keep harmful actors out.
While AI shows promise, MacDonald cautions that it cannot yet match human intuition. “Human moderators still have the edge, but as we scale we’ll integrate more AI assistance,” he says.
The game also restricts user‑generated content; players cannot upload new assets, allowing the studio to control visual elements while still permitting creative arrangement of existing items. This balance helps prevent the emergence of inappropriate shapes or symbols, a concern MacDonald humorously refers to as “time‑to‑penis”—a colloquial way of describing how kids might inadvertently create offensive imagery. He emphasizes a parental‑over‑the‑shoulder test: if a parent walked into the room and saw the game, would it pass their scrutiny?
The design philosophy aims to ensure that nothing on screen would raise red flags for a caring adult. The COVID‑19 pandemic accelerated the importance of virtual spaces for children, many of whom spent formative years online. “Virtual presence became as vital as physical presence,” MacDonald notes, pointing out that platforms like Roblox turned into digital malls for a generation. Yet he observes that the core ways kids play have remained consistent; for instance, Roblox’s “Adopt Me!” mirrors Club Penguin’s beloved Puffle system almost verbatim.
MacDonald is surprised by the scarcity of games that have attempted to replicate Club Penguin’s safe, community‑focused model. “It blows my mind—there’s a huge opportunity,” he says.
He feels a deep responsibility as a developer to contribute positively to the world, describing his work as a “deposit in the world bank” rather than a withdrawal. He recalls a poignant moment when the Make‑A‑Wish Foundation brought a terminally ill child to the Club Penguin studio; the child’s joy at seeing the penguin world left a lasting impression on him, reinforcing his belief in the profound impact video games can have. In summary, Stephen MacDonald’s vision for Imagine Island is to revive the safe, whimsical spirit of Club Penguin while leveraging modern technology and a rigorous moderation framework.
By targeting children aged six to thirteen and placing child safety above all else, the project aims to fill the void left by Flash‑based adventures and offer a responsible alternative to platforms like Roblox that, while popular, may not prioritize the same level of protection for young users.