Many players will fondly remember playing the huge online multiplayer game Club Penguin. The game has been discontinued since 2017 and as a result, many fans have created clone versions of the title to entertain themselves and others. The Club Penguin clones have had legal issues and the owner of the property, Disney, is keen to keep the title in its hands. A new Club Penguin clone has forced Disney to take legal action and it seems to be for good reason.
Club Penguin was an MMO made for children and designed to be a safe environment for them to communicate and have fun. The game was also used for crossover marketing for upcoming films much like Fortnite. Despite the success of the online game, Club Penguin was shut down as its player base declined and as a result, many players have imitated the game. It seems players missed the title as 1 million players were playing the most recent Club Penguin clone.
A lot of people would expect Disney to close a copyright breaching clone of one of its titles regardless of its content. However, it seems that the filters in the game that kept Club Penguin child friendly were removed and as a result children trying to access the game were being exposed to explicit content and were in danger.
Disney released an official statement explaining why it took legal action, saying:
Disney was right to take this action and express these concerns, as a member of the clone’s community has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child abuse images. With this in mind, many will be grateful that Disney stopped the game when they did. While many miss Club Penguin, and there was a great deal of upset when it was discontinued, players won’t want it to return in the way this clone did with offensive language and dangerous content.
“Child safety is a top priority for the Walt Disney Company and we are appalled by the allegations of criminal activity and abhorrent behaviour on this unauthorized website that is illegally using the Club Penguin brand and characters for its own purposes. We continue to enforce our rights against this, and other, unauthorized uses of the Club Penguin game.”
Many players would like to see Club Penguin make a comeback, but Disney does not seem to be interested in injecting new life into the title. While the clone managed to gain plenty of players, the reason for its removal suggests that the target demographic did not make up the majority of this player base. With that in mind, Club Penguin may increasingly become a nostalgic memory rather than a rebooted community.
Right up to the discontinuation of the game, Club Penguin inspired players to do unique things with the title and it is a shame that the game is lost. With that said, if the game is to make a return it should be done through proper channels to avoid a situation similar to this particular Club Penguin clone.
Source: BBC
