Welcome to Picture Perfect, a column that analyzes noteworthy historical incidents. In this edition, we will discuss Club Penguin’s last month.

BACKGROUND

Firstly, Lance Priebe, Lane Merrifield, and Dave Krysko founded Club Penguin for New Horizon Interactive on October 24, 2005. Next, Disney Interactive Studios purchased the game for 700 million dollars two years later. After their purchase, the game grew until it reached 200 million users in 2013. As the site grew, the staff held multiple partnered parties and instituted several notable changes.

By 2017, the game lost popularity due to the growth of other games and the unfavorability of new features. Soon after, the game’s closure became evident in January 2017 after over eleven years of service. At the same time, the administration set a release date for Club Penguin Island, a new 3D game, to come out two months later. To conclude the game, the Waddle On Party was launched as the last official party. Through the next two months, the Club Penguin Armies community coped in numerous ways with the impending death of their favorite childhood game.

March 5, 2017

Threats Made Towards Shadow Troops

Less than two months later, drama erupted within the community following threats made by Zuke. In the past, he faced accusations of bot raiding the Rebel Penguin Federation‘s events. Moreover, he was a part of the Whale Republic, a bot raid group consisting of three members. These group members made numerous threats of bot raids before Legends Cup VIII. While he briefly admitted to the bot raids, he retracted his statement. Following his retraction, he made additional threats toward Shadow Troops. As such, many community members linked his actions to attempts to gain approval from the Purple Republic. Additionally, his rank in Ice Warriors made such actions questionable. The army did not condemn the actions prior to the incident, however, the Shadow Troops threats finally led to Iceyfeet1234‘s demotion of Zuke. With his removal, the controversy ended for the time being.

March 7, 2017

Defacement of Club Penguin Army Central

Not long after the controversy subsided, Club Penguin Army Central experienced a defacement. Over Club Penguin’s last few months, debate began about Zing King To‘s removal as CEO. Simultaneously, a leak of these conversations culminated in a defacement of the CPAC site. The event marked the second defacement of CPAC in just two months. In response, CPAC administrators restored the site and secured the account of Woton, the site owner and creator. Consequently, Zing King To’s removal became certain as other staff members blamed him for the defacement. Even though he did not directly deface the site, other administrators felt he did not do enough to prevent it. Regardless, his removal concluded his original stint in army news after three years. Next, the imminent closure led to the return of several armies.

March 8, 2017

New CPAC Staff & Snow Ninjas Return

After Zing King To’s removal, new staff applications were opened to replace those fired. Moreover, Sammie ascended to CEO alongside KingFunks4 for the last weeks of CPAC’s existence. Meanwhile, Snow Ninjas re-opened under Zach 11‘s leadership. Over the years, the army had multiple generations with varying levels of success. Of these, the 4th generation reached the highest size, with 20+ troops. Despite their success, the army merged into the Army of Club Penguin in August 2015. The army’s revival marked the first of many army revivals to come during the final month.

March 10-11, 2017

Return of Underground Mafias Army & Special Weapons and Tactics

Thereafter, the Underground Mafias Army and Special Weapons and Tactics returned.  Both armies had years of history and influenced the community in significant ways. As such, their returns turned out to be no different. Following UMA’s return, the army raided the Legends Cup battle between IW and Nachos. At the same time, SWAT started a new generation under the leadership of Security, Bill, Lights717, Ryan, and Ganger90. With both armies’ revivals, each army entered the final stage of its history on Club Penguin. Less than a week later, another army embarked on its final journey.

March 17, 2017

Teutons’ Revival

When UMA came back, Earthing announced the return of Teutons as well. Throughout its history, the army warred several armies such as RPF, Golds, and Nachos. After a multilogging scandal, the army shut down until its revival in March 2017. Consequently, the revival event saw a max of 18 penguins on March 17. Ultimately, their revival event placed them 11th in the Top Ten. Next, another notable occurrence happened the very next day.

March 18, 2017

Legends Cup Final

During the final month, CPAC held Legends Cup VIII as the final tournament. The main participants included Doritos of Club Penguin, ACP, Army Republic, The Penguin Army Force, IW, Nachos, Thugs, Light Troops, RPF, ST, Hippos, and Wild Ninjas. By the semi-finals, the last four armies consisted of IW, Nachos, Thugs, and LT. After the elimination of Thugs and IW, Nachos and LT faced off in the final tournament battle of the original Club Penguin era. Consequently, Nachos won their second Legends Cup title and their last championship. In short, the Legends Cup final concluded over a decade of numerous tournaments held by CPAC.

Light Troops’ Shutdown

After the Legends Cup Final, Ioioluk announced the closure of LT. Throughout its history, it participated in many important wars and achieved some of CPA’s highest sizes. Given its influence, LT’s shutdown demonstrated the end of one of the community’s most dominant armies. LT’s shutdown marked the conclusion of another strong army, but it would not be the only army to shut down before Club Penguin’s closure.

March 22, 2017

Army of Club Penguin’s Closure Announcement

In late March, ACP debated on the army’s future without Club Penguin. These conversations led to a decision to shut down the army. As the first organized army, the Clover Defenders had one of the most dominant runs of all armies. While the army saw a decline, it was still successful with Flipmoo‘s AUSIA division. By 2017, ACP struggled significantly and fell below 10th place on their last three Top Tens. As such, ACP issued an unofficial shutdown announcement on March 22. The declaration linked the shutdown to no good alternatives on Club Penguin Private Servers or other games. Later on, a more formal announcement came on March 30 from Oagalthorp. Regardless, the army shut down for the first time in its history. Moving on, another noteworthy event transpired on the same day.

Top Ten Armies of All Time

Next, CPAC released its ranking of CPA’s best armies ever. The ranking involved a community vote that influenced the final list. For the community vote, CPAC nominated several active and dead armies from throughout army history. Given the community’s votes, the administration determined the best armies of all time. These armies consisted of ACP, Nachos, IW, RPF, Dark Warriors, UMA, LT, DCP, Night Warriors, and Water Vikings. Simultaneously, five armies barely missed out on the Top Ten, with the list including 15 armies in total. Moreover, the list included historical information for each army. ACP took the top spot on the list given its dominance from 2006 to 2012. Ultimately, the list comprised one of CPAC’s community-wide activities for the last month.

March 26-29, 2017

Final Top Ten & Top Ten Armies of 2017

After years of the Top Ten, CPAC released the final ranking. Consequently, the ranking included IW, SWAT, DCP, Thugs, RPF, AR, Golds, WN, Teutons, and Kings Republic. On the outside, UMA, Imperial Argonaut Empire, Aqua Vikings, and ACP placed 11th to 13th, respectively. In the meantime, each year’s annual ranking of the Top Ten Armies came out. The list differed somewhat from the final Top Ten. The best armies in 2017 were RPF, Nachos, DCP, Thugs, WN, AR, ACP, IW, LT, and TPAF. As such, RPF finished as the community’s highest-ranked army. Equally important, many armies closed over the next couple of days.

Closures of Most Armies & CPAC

In Club Penguin’s final days, many armies held their last events. These closures included ACP, IW, Nachos, AR, DCP, Teutons, Kings, SWAT, Thugs, and Golds. Subsequently, Wild Ninjas, RPF, and UMA became the only armies to move to Club Penguin Private Servers. As armies closed, Bluesockwa2 announced CPAC’s discontinuation. Despite CPAC’s end, the site stayed permanently open to viewers.

In the meantime, CPAC published the CPAC All-Time awards. The winners included Iceyfeet1234 for Best Major Army Leader, Poseidon112 for Best Small Army Leader, Army of Club Penguin for Best Major Army, Thugs for Best Small Medium Army, CPAC for Best News Site, and Legends Cup for Best Tournament. While CPAC awarded other titles, all the awards honored the efforts of years of CPA staff. Ultimately, the awards concluded CPAC’s final action as a media organization.

Club Penguin’s Shutdown

On the final day, many armies gathered on the game for its final hours. Moreover, many army members also tipped the iceberg with regular users as the player base finally gained the ability during the Waddle On Party. At the day’s end, the game servers turned off and ended CPA’s original chapter. Consequently, CPA and CPAC shut down at the same time.

Conclusion

Throughout Club Penguin’s last month, many notable events occurred. For example, several armies returned for their final generations. A lot of these armies never returned as a result, and thus remain in the defunct category. Moreover, community members’ accomplishments received enormous attention. Finally, Club Penguin’s shutdown ended the game that brought many kids joy over the years. Despite this, the game and CPA persist to this day through Club Penguin Private Servers. What do YOU think of Club Penguin’s final month? Do YOU think armies should have stayed open in hindsight? What events do YOU think should have been held? Were YOU around for Club Penguin’s closure?

Aurora
Senior Reporter

More Information