Club Penguin Rewritten, a remake of the fan-favorite Disney MMO, has allegedly been shut down after five years.
The fan-operated website now redirects to a notice that it's currently under investigation by the City of London Police. In the official Club Penguin Rewritten Discord server, which has been renamed "Rewritten", admin "Thorn" confirmed that the game was indeed shutting down, effective immediately, following a "full request" by Disney.
"We have voluntarily given control over the website to the police for them to continue their copyright investigation," Thorn wrote.
- After shutting down the Wii U online services last year, Nintendo asks players not to use "unauthorized services" to replace them as they might pose "security risks"
- Wii U online replacement Pretendo says "we are committed to user safety" as Nintendo warns against using third-party alternatives to its dead servers
While there were no further official statements issued in the Discord server, it's worth noting, as Redditor British_Commie pointed out, that Club Penguin Rewritten recently added advertisements in an attempt to generate additional revenue. This could be the root of Disney's concerns with the operation as a whole, but nothing has been confirmed just yet.
Club Penguin Rewritten operated as a fan remake of the original Club Penguin game after debuting in 2017. It's added layers of new content and additional features ever since its conception, and has widely been considered by many the second coming of the family-oriented hangout after it shut down in 2017. It was followed by Club Penguin Island, which was shut down the following year.
Thus, the official Club Penguin servers have been completely dead in the eyes of Disney since then, despite users clamoring for a new world to explore. Several fans attempted to keep the game alive by hosting and recreating the experience on several private servers over the years. Club Penguin Rewritten was a massive success, however, amassing over 10 million accounts before its shutdown.
As things currently stand, it seems like this could very well be the final nail in Club Penguin Rewritten's coffin. Like Nintendo, Disney is one company that doesn't take to fan remakes or usage of its properties for similar projects well, though it remains to be seen what the root of the takedown actually is at the moment.
At least we'll always have our Club Penguin tribute videos.
Mourning the loss of Club Penguin Rewritten? Check out the 25 best free games you can play right now.
"If this is just how it is, then yeah, that's the end": WoW Classic's most famous hardcore guild calls time for now after multiple raiders lose their MMO characters to DDoS attacks
My newest MMO hero is World of Warcraft Priest 'Chimneytime,' who got an official "warning" from Blizzard for making too many people get trapped inside chimneys
