Many players will fondly remember playing the huge online multiplayer gameClub 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.TheClub Penguinclones have had legal issuesand the owner of the property, Disney, is keen to keep the title in its hands. A newClub Penguinclone has forced Disney to take legal action and it seems to be for good reason.
Club Penguinwas 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 crossovermarketing for upcoming films much likeFortnite. Despite the success of the online game,Club Penguinwas 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 recentClub Penguinclone.
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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 keptClub Penguinchild 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:
“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 theClub Penguinbrand and characters for its own purposes. We continue to enforce our rights against this, and other, unauthorized uses of theClub Penguingame.”
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 thatDisney stopped the game when they did. While many missClub 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.
Many players would like to seeClub Penguinmake 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 Penguinmay increasingly become a nostalgic memory rather than a rebooted community.
Right up to the discontinuation of the game,Club Penguininspired players to do unique things with the titleand 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 particularClub Penguinclone.
