Poptropica fans waited in anticipation after the promise of a big announcement today. And at long last, we received the news:
Poptropica has selected 13 old islands as well as the Minecraft-esque Poptropica Realms to port for download on Steam, the video game distribution platform. Currently, there’s no word of an exact date or which islands will be included. However, they will be “dropping daily hints” starting tomorrow, so keep an eye out and start guessing!
While this is definitely exciting (and long overdue), we find it a bit odd for an online game to make the move to Steam. After all, why not just upload them to the Poptropica website?
Perhaps this could be related to Poptropica’s longevity. Many similar online games have either moved on to new platforms or simply shut down over time. Porting old islands to Steam could allow fans to continue exploring their favorite islands even in the event Poptropica itself has to shut down, as the game could live on without their servers.
Plus, years of waiting (and an abandoned attempt with Pop Worlds) have shown that Pop seems to have had a lot of difficulty getting older Pop islands up and running on their own Haxe-based platform. The struggle of technology and moving away from Flash may be another factor in deciding to make this content on another platform.
This bundle will also include several features from the online game, including the ability to “customize personal clubhouses, adopt pets,Ā andĀ access multiplayer featuresĀ like theĀ arcade and common rooms.” It’s currently up in the air if this will be free or how much it will cost. The release date will be “in several weeks.”
Was this a response to desperate fans’ pleas? Either way, this may be a sign that Pop will focus on rebuilding itself, and prioritize past promises over new ideas. Also, will the islands be completely true to the originals, or will they add features such as unreleased music?
Which islands would you like to see? How do you feel about the Steam port, and what do you think it means for the future of Pop? Let us know! (I am 100% begging for the return of Astro-Knights and Ghost Story, as many of you probably would have guessed! š)
Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles
š Poptropica Help Blog šŗ 
YES!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER! THANK YOU, CREATORS!!!!
ASTRO-KNIGHTS, ASTRO-KNIGHTS, ASTRO-KNIGHTS!
YES! MY #3 FAVORITE ISLAND!
I mean… at least they’re trying in a way, but I don’t understand why they’re only picking 13 islands. If these islands were actually going to be available on the Poptropica website, then I can see where people would be happy about that, but since they’re only available for download, this isn’t much different from Flashpoint. We can already access all of the old AS2 islands on Flashpoint, so this honestly sounds like a downgraded Flashpoint.
I guess the only benefit would be Realms or the multiplayer features, if they included some of the old common room battle games that have been removed (like Soupwords and Paint War). I would rather just keep using Flashpoint so I can play all of the old islands though.
That is what I was thinking. Poptropica has merely come up with their own “official” version of Flashpoint that will have fewer islands but will include Realms and “multiplayer features”, as they say. It could also be another one of their money-making endeavours, as they may be charging the players to download the game. This just goes to show that the Poptropica website as we know it has no future. Perhaps they think they might as well reap some money out of selling us the old islands before Poptropica is abandoned completely.
If they charge us to download it, then I’m definitely not going to do it. It’s not worth it
Yea, just 13 islands is disappointing , and Iād really like some of the old features too.
However, Iām thrilled that the creators have finally answered our calls and stopped ignoring us! And Iām not too excited about the old islands since I have Flashpoint and can access all of them, but I really missed Realms, so I canāt wait for that!
More than anything, Iām just delighted that the creators proved they did hear us and they do care!
And to Invisible Ring:
You were so right! People kept telling you to quit the optimism, but you kept going, and in the end you had the last laugh. Thank you for that. Your movie definitely inspired me.
It may be a downgraded version of what’s on Flashpoint in a sense, but for those skeptical or struggling with downloading Flashpoint, having this official access to old Poptropica can be a verified safe and easier way to play. Also, fingers crossed for Mac compatibility, which is currently not possible with Flashpoint (unless it’s a Windows-enabled Mac).
As for whether it’s worth paying for, if it ends up not being free, that depends. At the very least, though, it would be a way to support the Pop Creators for their hard work of making the original content in the past, bringing old Pop back in the present, and ongoing maintenance into the future.
That’s true. And it’s also possible that they may add more islands in the future, it just takes time. We can at least hope that all of the islands will be available in the steam version someday.
I agree that they should at least move towards having most or all islands on it (if they can’t keep the sponsored ones for whatever reason it’s understandable), but I will say as someone who has trouble accessing Flashpoint, as well as for players who are interested in Pop but aren’t as knowledgeable about the fandom and its archives, this could be useful. Also, like I mentioned, this hopefully could be a permanent downloadable version of Pop. We’ll just have to see.
Personally, considering it was originally a free game AND has a free app, I agree it should be free as well. That being said, if membership is no longer a thing in the Steam version, a low price point *could* be justified.
Super exciting news! It’s encouraging to see that they finally have something concrete to say about the old islands returning. Still many questions about the whats of content and whys of Steam, but it’s a big step forward.
whoo boy, I can’t wait hopefully it’s free or in the $10 to $20 mark. Hopefully, I can still log in to my same account because I love my character
This is a great step in the right direction. Not only are you making Poptropica continue to thrive outside the main online aspect, you can also make profit out of it too. I hope you guys try to port ALL the islands and the side games and promo material such as Shrink Launch, DC Dinner, Round Em Up, the summo wrestling minigame, the blimp minigame, 24 carrot AS3 BETA, money ladder, legendary swords, haunted house, energy hog, spook central, dr hares secret lab, Nano combat training, and others I probably don’t know about. I think that would make many old and new fans happy that they could replay old lost content.
I don’t expect you guys to release them all at once as you guys said you want 13 first, but I hope you guys do plan to add on, even if it costs money to buy these extra content.
I hope to see the older minigames too, especially since I never got the chance to play spook central! Just letting you know tho, we’re not officially linked to Pop, although hopefully they sometimes read our comments! :>
You know, I find the fact that they wrote “several weeks”, and not a specific time or release for these 13 islands, I think this means that old islands definitely won’t return to the actual Poptropica website. We’ll simply be waiting for the rest of eternity for said islands to appear on Steam.
I’m going to be honest, considering both hints so far could possibly be Survival and Mythology–both of which have already been ported to the current website…I’m hoping I’m wrong!!
if jeff kinney lives in the same state as you or your neighboor why don’t you go ask your mom or dad to go to there house and ask them may I have whatever poptropica islands you want back at least 20 Islands you want oh and I want survival 4 mission atlantis 3 survival 5 and arabian nights 3 I don’t know want state jeff kinney from I’ll go look it up
Sorry but that’s unwise on a few levels: 1) Jeff Kinney doesn’t currently work with Poptropica; 2) we don’t know his home address; 3) even if we did, it’s rude to show up to someone’s home unannounced.
One way you can get in touch with Jeff is through his Twitter @wimpykid. You can also tweet @Poptropica, which would be more effective to your goal, but plenty of Poptropicans have been petitioning to have the old islands back, with limited success.