In the early 2000s, when the MMO landscape was dominated by the likes of World of Warcraft and EverQuest, one small browser game quietly rose up through the ranks and became one of the most popular titles in the genre: Club Penguin. despite being geared towards children and utilizing simple 2D graphics, the game had a surprising amount depth and customization. But unlike other MMOs, players are unable to play the game today and it's a damn shame.
Turning A Little Into A Lot
Club Penguin launched as an Adobe Flash-based game on October 25th, 2005 from Disney Canada Inc. and RocketSnail Games. It gave players the ability to create their own colorful penguin character, at which point you were able to travel across the Club Penguin map, interacting with other players and competing in entertaining mini-games. It was incredibly simple in design - but through continual updates and a serious attention to detail, it quickly evolved into one of the greatest browser games of all time.
Despite being a 2D Flash game, Club Penguin had much more to offer than most people realize. The game included a massive amount of thoughtful cosmetic items, allowing you to customize your penguin will all kinds of outfits and props. From guitars, to leather jackets, to helicopter hats, the game offered tons of expressive options that were a blast to experiment with.
An Underrated Penguin Experience
The team behind the game was considerably thoughtful too, hiding secrets and unlockable content throughout the game's map. A famous instance of this took place when hundreds of players hopped up and down on the map's giant iceberg, at which point in eventually flipped over. Hidden content like this is what made Club Penguin a game with so much more than it appeared to contain on the surface.
On top of character customization, you were also given the chance to customize your very own igloo with all kinds of interesting features. From a disco floor, to luxury furniture, to basketball hoops, the browser game offered a dazzling inventory of options to impress your penguin friends with by inviting them over to admire your creation.
Similar to popular games of today like Fortnite and Overwatch, Club Penguin did an excellent job of hosting great seasonal events, allowing players to obtain exclusive cosmetic items that ran in line with each specific season. The events also included seasonal items for you igloo and even created completely new mini-games to celebrate each season.
The End of An Era, And Hope For Tomorrow
Despite these features, the team behind Club Penguin was unable to keep it up and running. The player base eventually began to shrink and despite the idea being promising on paper, the company was unable to transition the game to a mobile platform. The game began to cost more to run than the profit it was pulling in and Disney eventually decided to pull the plug.
However, even given its past failures, the stage is absolutely set for a Club Penguin renaissance. A well-designed mobile game that captures the essence of the original title would work excellently. Nostalgia sells, and it has been a massive driving force in the video game industry for nearly a decade now. Remakes and remasters are being released every single year and people are always eager to spend their money to revisit a game that they enjoyed as children.
A simply laid out mobile Club Penguin where you can create your character, interact with other players, and explore a massive amount of customization options would be a huge draw for people who have such fond memories of playing the game years ago. Similar to the resurgence we've see in World of Warcraft: Classic, reworking the MMO to include what made it so popular in the first place would be a great way to give it a significant comeback.