Breaking news — and possibly even game-breaking at that: Poptropica is getting rid of paid memberships.
Players clicking around at any members-only content, such as certain store costumes and islands, are now being confronted with a pop-up that says “Membership subscriptions no longer offered.”
UPDATE: All members’ content is now free for all. Read more here!
But before you get too excited: no, the game’s members-only content has not been opened to everyone. Existing members still retain their membership status and can still access the paywalled content, such as PoptropiCon, Ep.3, while they remain closed to non-members.
On Poptropica’s website, all membership plans are now marked at $0. But this does not mean you can now snag a membership for free — on the contrary, now no one can buy a membership.
Even if you enter valid credit card details to make a purchase, the page will give an error about how the posted currency does not match the plan currency code, whatever that means. Changing the currency will result in the same error, just with a different currency listed.
As much as we’d like to share optimism for a Poptropica without paywalls, the signs aren’t exactly pointing to a bright new era. If Poptropica intends to let everyone access everything, why haven’t they done so in this move? (UPDATE: Days later, they did make everything available to all.) As usual, there is no comms around this update on any of their platforms, leaving fans to speculate.
There certainly aren’t any new member gifts this month, let alone 12 Days of Member Gifts, breaking a five-year December holiday tradition that began in 2018. The shop floor hasn’t been updated either, still swimming along with November’s aquatic-themed items. Meanwhile, Poptropica’s recent Cyber Monday merch sale has now ended.
With one less thing to manage — the monthly member gifts — and very few updates to the game in general, Poptropica seems headed for its sunset, as fans have been speculating on the PHC, our Discord server.
What are your thoughts on this no-membership business? Share with us in the comments and on the PHC!
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