| At the time of Club Penguin's acquisition, there | | | | One year later, there is still speculation whether |
| were 12 million registered users, with about | | | | there would ever be another Club Penguin, or |
| 700,000 of these paying subscribers. Each of | | | | whether there is already the next Club Penguin |
| them paid an average of $6 monthly, bringing the | | | | waiting to be procured. In the wake of the |
| monthly subscription revenue of Club Penguin to | | | | economy downturn, is it even possible for any |
| an approximate 4.2 million dollars. To top it off | | | | company to fork out extravagant amounts of |
| Club Penguin was also making money off virtual | | | | cash to procure a piece of virtual real estate |
| goods and online merchandise. For a 3 man team | | | | these days |
| sharing that amount of dough per month that's | | | | Today, there are several promising virtual worlds |
| pretty good money! | | | | for kids on the internet, all with impressive |
| Disney's acquisition was a cash payment of $350 | | | | membership stats and equally impressive Alexa |
| million and an opportunity to earn out an additional | | | | rankings. But Club Penguin is currently still top of |
| $350 million between the time of acquisition and | | | | the game. |
| 2009. This simply threw the world into frenzy. | | | | But how long more will Club Penguin stay at the |
| Suddenly the folks who were already in the virtual | | | | top of its game? Is Club Penguin already waning in |
| world business began examining how they could | | | | its popularity or will it remain champion for another |
| emulate Club Penguin's success. Folks who were in | | | | few good years? |
| the gaming business decided to get a piece of the | | | | In spite of these questions and uncertainties, one |
| virtual world business. Folks who were not in | | | | thing is for certain. |
| either industry but in the tech business decided to | | | | There are dozens of virtual worlds for kids hot at |
| invest in virtual world R&D. Folks who had no | | | | the heels of Club Penguin, and one of them may |
| idea how to go about this and had no money to | | | | just be the next Club Penguin. |
| invest could only look on. | | | | |