Discussion: #ProjectSuperSecret will Doom Club Penguin
Hi guys,
So a lot of people, including me, have been extremely excited about #ProjectSuperSecret. We already know that a 3D design will be coming to the island as well as numerous other cool things. However, as of a few days ago, I’m no longer excited. I’ve already written a post on how #ProjectSuperSecret could be dangerous for Club Penguin, and now I’m certain that it will doom it. Let me explain why.
You may have read the post about #ProjectSuperSecret coming to mobile, however not many people suspected that it’ll be fully for mobile. Well, Tomisino1Ā showed me an article on a website called TechVibes. This is what the article said, though the most interesting bit is in the last few paragraphs:
The BC Tech industry is big, and beautiful. So itās always a little painful when the āLā word is thrown around. Layoffs hit the Okanagan heavy-weight today, and more will most likely be on the way.
Twenty-eight people were let go from Disneyās Kelowna office this morning, and the company is a being a little tight-lipped about why. A voice from inside the studio tells me that itās due to the new direction of one of their biggest projects. Those laid-off by the mega-studio were long-standing faces in Kelowna, including names from QA, Programming, and Art Teams on the Club Penguin project.
The flash flood of popularity seen when Club Penguin came out was the reason Disney purchased the office in Kelowna to so many years ago. Now, the towers against the highway in the ācapitalā of the Okanagan are home to a slough of Disney personnel. After cuts in LA a few years ago, almost all of the companies Technical/Customer support is now done in Kelowna.
With these layoffs, itās clear Disney Canada is looking to do something fresh with the popular franchise.
Originally created by New Horizon Interactive, Club Penguin is a child-safe social interactive game, and platform. The world is vast, the lore is deep, and the teams that build the game paid close attention to their ecosystems and environments. Which translated into immense success, and a devoted fan-base. Now, the 11 year old game is being phased out by Disney, who bought New Horizon for $350 Million in 2007.
The studio claims to be working on a new Club Penguin, one primarily in 3d, which has led to the departure (desired or otherwise) of the majority of their 2d art team.
Itās said that Club Penguin 2 (not the actual name) is being developed for Mobile, as more and more kids have access to the tiny devices. Which is understandable. The monetization regime of mobile games is usually far more user-friendly when compared to itās PC counterpart.
We look forward to hearing more from the studio in Kelowna about itās next project, and hope that those affected by their change in development direction find new studios in no time!
What this means is that Disney have laid off (fired) more people, except this time they claim it’s because they don’t need their 2D artist team. I think that this suggests the end of Club Penguin for the web, especially since the articles say it’s being developed for mobile. I’m sorry, but Club Penguin cannot survive with just mobile.
Firstly, the size is already 187MB large. That’s already the heaviest file on my device, and just remember this is without a bunch of mini-games etc. Imagine if Club Penguin wanted to add the whole island to the app and cut the Web version. That could easily exceed 1GB, which means that Club Penguin is bound to have to cut some stuff. If we thought that they were adding things, we were wrong.
Secondly, they claim that mobile is more user-friendly and more kids are likely to use them. Unfortunately for them, I have evidence that proves otherwise. I used a website which claims to give an accurate estimation on how many downloads an app has or how many visits a website has. Take a look at the results for the Club Penguin app.
5-10 million. Not a bad number. But now take a look at the website’s stats.
12.30 million… Yeah, you could say that people might log onto the app numerous of times. The website one counts total visits, but the app only can count one visit since you can only download it once. Well, that’s true but notice how the app says “Total Installs”. However, the website stats only show the total number of visits ONLY in January 2016. I’m sorry, but I don’t get your logic here, Club Penguin.
I’m not the only one who dislikes this idea either. This was just a quick poll I found whilst researching some more information about this topic. Have a look at it!
https://twitter.com/1999bloo/status/706178964759449600
Not only that, but I kept searching on Twitter for tweets by people who think that Club Penguin cannot survive on mobile. I found quite a lot, and it just goes to show how so many people use computers to play Club Penguin. If they switch to mobile, Club Penguin is doomed.
https://twitter.com/TheBluPig/status/706278641680965633
Horrible idea with having just a mobile version for #ProjectSuperSecret, @clubpenguin should make an exception. Many enjoy desktop.
— Waddles4g1 (@Waddles4g1) March 5, 2016
https://twitter.com/1999bloo/status/706179354838040576
https://twitter.com/RealOldCpVids9/status/706234273708244992
Well that's Club Penguin screwed then.
— murda ā (@trvizXXX) March 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/thetechblaze/status/706228690208890881
https://twitter.com/tomisino1/status/706231336164413440
Judging from these tweets, as well as many more which I did not feature, the idea of switching to mobile isn’t very popular. Hopefully Club Penguin read this post and notice how a larger portion of their audience actually use a computer to play the game rather than a tablet or a phone.
Waddle on!
