A Club Penguin fan server has been shut down after receiving a DMCA from Disney. Club Penguin Online had been quietly running for a while, but it has since attracted the attention of The Mouse and has been forced to close down.
The Verge reports that notice of the Club Penguin Online fan server was announced in a now-removed blog post. However, the /r/ClubPenguin subreddit managed to grab a screenshot of what appears to be the announcement which we've reproduced below:
Club Penguin Online will no longer be running after May 2020
This was a very hard decision to make, but ultimately the choice was not ours to make. As most of you are aware, around a month ago a former staff member and his clique targetted us with false allegations in a stunt to ruin our community and try [to] bring them to their brand new CPPS. This situation spiraled out of control and has gotten the eyes of law enforcement, media, and unfortunately Disney into the Club Penguin Private Server world.
We are not the only private server to be shutting down. Disney has sent [DMCAs] to other Club Penguin Private Server as well. If anyone does try to revive the game, it'll be extremely difficult now as you'lkl have to worry about Disney, and in all [honesty], it isn't worth it.
We would like to thank you all for making this journey a memorable and enjoyable one, despite the rocky ending. Thank you to all 8 million people who joined this game in our [2-year] history. Club Penguin Online was a great revival of the legendary game and we are proud of what we have achieved. We will release an official shutdown date at the end of May.
Thank you for all the memories.
Club Penguin had been a rather popular game in its heydey. It was purchased by Disney at the height of its popularity in 2007 and subsequently shut down ten years later after its population had declined.
Primarily, this was a wholesome game intended for younger kids... which means that a lot of Internet tricksters loved memeing the hell out of it and causing tons of trouble, catapulting Club Penguin into the halls of meme legend.
Is There Another Club Penguin Fan Server?
The closure of this Club Penguin fan server means that there is now one less place for fans of the original to get together for fun, but it ain't over yet. At least one other fan-made service exists, and it may have taken steps to protect against any legal action.
Club Penguin Rewritten looks, at its face, a fair bit like the original Club Penguin. However, its Legal page has a disclaimer that appears to be an attempt to ward off any potential DMCAs or other legal action:
Welcome to CPRewritten (‘We’, the ‘Site’ or ‘Us’). The Site is operated and presented to users by CPRewritten.net (‘CPRewritten’). CPRewritten is an independent recreation of Disney’s Club Penguin and we are not affiliated with Disney Interactive or Club Penguin Inc.
Whether or not it will be successful against stopping Disney DMCAs is unclear; for now, this surviving site hasn't made any announcements to the contrary. Disney can (and likely will) continue to DMCA every Club Penguin fan server they see, but I get the sense that this would be a losing battle on its part.
What do you think of Club Penguin Online being shit down? Did you play the original when it was around? Let us know in the comments below!
