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Club Penguin to sell to Sony?

May 16th, 2007 (Visited 4688 times) Tags:

Via The Forge, here’s a TechCrunch article about Sony maybe buying Club Penguin for half a billion dollars.

I met the CEO of Club Penguin while at Web 2.0 Expo. He struck me as a very nice guy — and also very committed to the charitable, help-the-world, have-great-kids’-entertainment side of things.

As TechCrunch comments, that may be a bit of a stumbling block for Sony. I don’t know for sure, but I have heard that Club Penguin donates a large amount of their earnings. Sony certainly has a charitable heart, but they also don’t exist for that reason, whereas Club Penguin is founded on that sort of idealism.

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8 Responses to “Club Penguin to sell to Sony?”

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Techmeme wrote on May 16th, 2007 at 3:37 pm:

+ Discussion: Futuristic Play, Hitchhiker’s Guide to 650, BeyondVC and Raph’s Website

brinking - nabeel hyatt wrote on May 16th, 2007 at 7:47 pm:

Club Penguin’s $450m “overnight success”…

Club Penguin is rumored to be in talks with Sony for an acquisition in the range of $450m, paidContent says it’s more than a rumor. These guys pulled in $60m in revenue last year, are still growing fast, and have been chased by just about every tier o…

Reader Comments

Sean Bulger said on May 16th, 2007 at 4:45 pm:
You know, after the SOE purchase of Sigil the very recently, I can’t help but find this amusing, regardless of the actual implications.

But, onto the more serious side of the topic, that is rather interesting. I really can’t see Sony holding onto that charitable-side, as you commented on, but, hopefully that could be preserved somehow. If nothing else, at least part of that half billion might find itself sent to various charities.
Tajah said on May 16th, 2007 at 5:39 pm:
I’m really curious as to what Sony’s game plan is. One almost gets the impression they’re gearing up The Station to compete with XBox Live kind of market.
Darniaq said on May 16th, 2007 at 5:50 pm:
I love the speed of the ‘net on this one. My own take (edited cross-post from F13):

- It could be a way for any Sony group to get into the more social worldy type MMOs.
- Could be a way for Club Penguin to grow to heights as yet unheard. A few guys in a vertical company versus BIG HUGE COMPANY and all the dollars/perks that go with it. CP was only going to get so big on its own, cute and interesting and garage-y-ness aside.
- That it could end up in other Sony groups beyond SOE is interesting. Could be like the Viacom/Maplestory vs MTV/Virtual Laguna Beach thing. SOE focuses on traditional sub-based time-sinky games while another Sony group extends into new business models and audiences.
- There’s such a low overhead for a game like this, the PS3 could easily handle it. While cooking and cleaning.
Nabeel Hyatt said on May 16th, 2007 at 7:48 pm:
Some quick thoughts:
- They were built on a server that costs less than $5,000. It’s not about technology, it’s about community
- Their growth rate outstrips their closest competitor, Habbo, and I think this is partly because they have much more overt game mechanics
- Is this going to Sony Online (MMOs) or Sony Computer (PS3) or Sony Pictures (Happy Feet)? The future for Club Penguin is very different depending.
- This isn’t an overnight success story… oh, this is really turning into it’s own post. Off to the blog (I’ll through a trackback Raph)
Cyanbane said on May 16th, 2007 at 9:15 pm:
@Nabeel:

Is this going to Sony Online (MMOs) or Sony Computer (PS3) or Sony Pictures (Happy Feet)? The future for Club Penguin is very different depending.

I have a feeling that will be all in the same soon. Sony is like the deathstar, they need to coordinate all their lasers into one to target xbl. I assume someone had that thought a few years ago and it/has been in the making for quite a while.
Wolfe said on May 18th, 2007 at 12:30 am:
Isnt this a bit like trying to improve the size of the worlds biggest anthill by digging it up and plating it in more fertile soil?

A fun experiment with low probability of success. Its almost as if SOE is a genre the way Danc writes. You expect them to do things, you expect their users to be a certain type of player. When expectations dont match you end up in that inbetween zone where no one is happy.
Wolfe said on May 18th, 2007 at 5:55 am:
Mmm, I guess its Sony and SOE but still. They must expect to become a heavy trendsetter in youth culture to gain from such a massive expense.

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