"Animal jam" is shutting down and kids can't believe it
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Animal Jam, the social network for kids, announced this morning it’s shutting down. In its place, the WildWorks company will launch a new product for desktops, Feral, which has been in development over the past several months. Feral will launch in September, while the Animal Jam game on the desktop and mobile devices will shut down on August 29, 2020.
The closure is a bittersweet milestone for a certain generation – those who grew up with computers and the internet, and learned to socialize online through Animal Jam's virtual world.
Started in 2015, the app featured avatars of animated animals (hence the name), that lived in its online world. Users could play games, chat, and build their home with virtual accessories. At the time, it had over 1 million users. By 2016, that number had grown to 15 million, though there’s some indication that visitors have been on the decline.
According to one traffic measurement source, SimilarWeb, the app saw 20.7 million downloads as of December, 2018 – and that figure was down from 39.2 million in July, 2018. The U.S., however, was still the primarily source of that traffic, driving over 68 of the total visits to the site.
Meanwhile, on mobile, the iOS app had dropped to 595 in the Games category, and had consistently been ranked in the 400’s or 500’s, with an occasional bounce into the 300’s, over the past couple of years, as well.
The problem for Club Penguin, which was aimed at younger children and tweens primarily, is that there are now so many apps vying for kids’ attention. Even if they’re not lying about their age in order to join sites like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, there are other places for kids to engage online, including YouTube, Nickelodeon’s properties, PBS Kids, and elsewhere. Plus, there are app stores filled with games to divert kids’ attention.
The new site, Feral, will look to capture teens’ interest, with a modern-day take on the original virtual world, but one’s that focused on desktop. Though related, Feral is its own, standalone app – players can’t bring items or Gems from the old app to the new one. Their Animal Jam membership will also not transfer over to the new property.
This is a satirical website. Don't take it Seriously. It's a joke.