The Walt Disney Company

'''Here is a letter taken directly from the Club Penguin Blog. It concerns Club Penguin being bought out by the mega-company known as Disney.'''

Hello Penguins!

You may have heard that Club Penguin is now a part of Disney and you may be wondering what does that mean? Over the last few months, Club Penguin has been looking for a company we could work with to help us not only add more cool stuff to Club Penguin, but to take Club Penguin throughout the world into many different languages. We wanted kids all over the world to be able to experience Club Penguin and we couldn’t do it alone.

As far as the game is concerned, not much will change. Everyone on the Club Penguin Team will continue to work hard to make Club Penguin the best it can be. Our hope is that you don’t even notice a difference unless it means we’re making something better! Please let us know what you think and feel free to ask any questions. We’ll try to answer as many as we can!

Until then…Waddle on!

Here is the full letter from the founders of Club Penguin.

We’re delighted to announce Club Penguin has joined the Walt Disney Company in a business partnership that will provide a wide range of exciting and unique development opportunities.

When we launched Club Penguin in October 2005 we had a clear vision of a virtual world so fun and safe that we, and other adults around the world, would feel completely comfortable letting our own children and grandchildren visit. As word about Club Penguin spread and the popularity of the site grew, we were approached by countless international organizations about partnerships. From the outset, we made it clear we weren’t willing to compromise the integrity of what we’d created and would only work with a company that shared our founding principles and core values.

Disney is that company. It is the world’s best loved and most respected provider of family entertainment with a strong commitment to providing safe fun. As Club Penguin heads into its third year in operation, the Walt Disney Company is perfectly positioned to help take it to the next level.

Although we’ve achieved great success to date and have reached more children than we ever dreamed in a relatively short period of time without having to rely on advertising or other traditional forms of marketing, there are limits to what a small, independent company like ours can accomplish alone. Disney’s resources, infrastructure and experience will allow Club Penguin to provide an even better online entertainment experience to existing users while allowing greater global reach.

One of our long range plans has always been to open the Club Penguin experience up to a broader range of users by offering Club Penguin in languages other than English. That is now a much more immediate goal, and it’s just one example of what this partnership will mean for Club Penguin. With Disney’s backing, our creative and talented staff will be able to innovate and produce new content much more quickly and efficiently, making the website more fun, exciting and safe than ever before.

As the site’s founders, we will continue to lead and guide Club Penguin, retaining control over the day-to-day operations and direction of the site while working closely with Disney to make Club Penguin the best it can be. In addition, we remain committed to our policy of allowing no advertising on the site.

As we move into this next exciting stage in Club Penguin’s development we want to thank you for your support and for entrusting us with the care of your children as they waddle around and meet new friends in the snowy virtual world we created.

Sincerely, Lane Merrifield, Dave Krysko, Lance Priebe