It’s the end of the line for a former Kelowna digital darling.
Disney Canada has announced that Club Penguin is shutting down, putting several employees out of work.
The highly successful game was sold to Disney for $350 million in 2007. Since then, Disney ceased the original production of Club Penguin, replacing it with Club Penguin Island.
But after 13 years, Disney said it’s time to move on.
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“When we replaced the original Club Penguin game a year and a half ago, we always strived to make Club Penguin Island the best mobile successor to the original game. From Day One of development, Club Penguin Island has been a true passion project for everyone here at Disney, but the time has come for the party to end,” Disney said in a blog post.
Word of the impending closure prompted co-founder Lane Merrifield of Kelowna to reach out to employees on his Facebook page.
“For those of you affected by the layoffs at Club Penguin: I remember when I first left, one of the weirdest parts was not having anywhere to go every day. That feeling is why we built the Kelowna Innovation Centre as a place for you to come and figure it out,” Merrifield said.
He also offered to meet with affected workers.
“Come have breakfast at Gather or a coffee at Blenz in the atrium. Meet another ex-Penguin for a beer on the rooftop at Perch. Do some job hunting or dream up your startup at Accelerate Okanagan.”
In its blog post, Disney doesn’t say when the impending closure will occur or how many employees will be affected.
“Please look out for more information soon and as always, waddle on,” the post said.
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