Neopets has changed hands a number of times since its inception, and amid the acquisitions, it languished, reporting just 100,000 users when it was purchased by the Chinese firm NetDragon in 2017. Deepening its decay was the decline of Adobe’s Flash Player – the software used to power much of the site – which browsers began to phase out around 2017 before the company officially killed it off in 2020. Neopets fell by the wayside, receiving little attention or updates to its interface.
As NetDragon shut down a handful of under-performing sites it had acquired, he saw that Neopets was at risk.
“Even through the last decade of its downfall – the lack of updates, the death of flash leaving half the site non-playable – a quarter of our remaining users log on every day,” he said. “I saw how tight-knit the remaining community was, and as a player myself I resonated with the emotional attachment that led these core users to stand by Neopets. I realized this is probably the most sticky customer base you could find.”
Law convinced the higher-ups at NetDragon to give him “one last shot” to save Neopets, orchestrating a management buyout deal that spun Neopets out into an independently owned company of which he is now CEO. The move was backed by an undisclosed amount of outside investments.
Under a group known as the Neopets Team (TNT), the company has begun restoring the site’s functionality, updating its design and improving its best-known classic games. Next, TNT hopes to enable more mobile capability.
Though much of the site is still limping along with some glitches, Law said that its failure to change with the times had ironically become an asset.
“Because of the lack of updates, we basically preserved early internet culture in its purest form,” he said. “When people log on, the game still looks 99% the same, and their pets are still there. It’s like meeting back up with an old friend. There are not many experiences in life where you can revisit your childhood exactly as it was.”
The difficulty of reviving Neopia
With efforts to resuscitate Neopets ramping up, monthly users have nearly tripled to 300,000 in the past six months, and the company is on track to be profitable by the end of 2024, Law said.
“I believe this is the beginning of the revival. But there is a lot more work to do,” Law said.
In addition to prioritizing drawing lapsed users back to the site, Neopets is flirting with licensing its intellectual property for a trading card game and a branded Monopoly board.
“We are already on track to be profitable, but we want to make sure that is sustainable, and that we future-proof the IP and make sure we can survive for many more years to come,” Law said.
Amid continuing pressure to make Neopets financially viable in the real world, new leadership at the company also has to contend with the digital financial components of the site – which runs on the virtual currency of “Neopoints”. With few updates to the site over time, a vast black market has emerged for certain pets, and the site’s virtual economy has struggled with hyperinflation.
Healing the rift with Neopets fans
In the absence of upkeep on the official Neopets site, fans have made their own offshoots in the past decade, including fan fiction, puzzles and minigames. Law said that rather than cracking down on fan-created components, the company is embracing them. It launched a “Neopass” login system that allows users to access games across the Neopets system, including third-party and fan-made games.
“We’re probably one of the first gaming companies to open up our system to community projects,” he said. “There are so many fans who have been pouring their love and passion into creating these sites and we wanted to build a pathway for them to co-create with Neopets.”
Those projects are part of an “ongoing dialogue” with Neopets users that Law has sought to foster since he took the helm of the company. He hosts a monthly “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit, where there is a very active Neopian community, taking questions and suggestions about the future of the site.
Neopets has also created an ambassador program, which chose a handful of accounts from dozens of applications to work directly with Neopets teams to improve the site and the user experience. Similar to Reddit’s volunteer moderator system, the ambassador program is an unpaid opportunity for super-users to have a bigger say in how the site is run.
Such efforts to connect with Neopians have given many users hope that their experiences will be considered, particularly after the parent company experienced major backlash over a 2021 attempt to dive into NFTs and cryptocurrency. One user who goes by evilfaerie said the dialogue with fans had course-corrected that debacle.
“The new owners seem to be actively engaging with the community,” they said. “Because they are millennials who grew up on the site, you can see that their efforts are a labor of love – it makes it more meaningful.”
Source: How Neopets’ nostalgic revival tripled users in six months
Neopets seems to be doing a lot better under the direction and leadership of Dominic Law. Especially with going from 100,000 monthly players to now 300,000 monthly players. There’s still a lot for them to do in order to get more players back to Neopets, but they’re doing good.
What are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to new updates from Neopets and future changes?
As NetDragon shut down a handful of under-performing sites it had acquired, he saw that Neopets was at risk.
“Even through the last decade of its downfall – the lack of updates, the death of flash leaving half the site non-playable – a quarter of our remaining users log on every day,” he said. “I saw how tight-knit the remaining community was, and as a player myself I resonated with the emotional attachment that led these core users to stand by Neopets. I realized this is probably the most sticky customer base you could find.”
Law convinced the higher-ups at NetDragon to give him “one last shot” to save Neopets, orchestrating a management buyout deal that spun Neopets out into an independently owned company of which he is now CEO. The move was backed by an undisclosed amount of outside investments.
Under a group known as the Neopets Team (TNT), the company has begun restoring the site’s functionality, updating its design and improving its best-known classic games. Next, TNT hopes to enable more mobile capability.
Though much of the site is still limping along with some glitches, Law said that its failure to change with the times had ironically become an asset.
“Because of the lack of updates, we basically preserved early internet culture in its purest form,” he said. “When people log on, the game still looks 99% the same, and their pets are still there. It’s like meeting back up with an old friend. There are not many experiences in life where you can revisit your childhood exactly as it was.”
The difficulty of reviving Neopia
With efforts to resuscitate Neopets ramping up, monthly users have nearly tripled to 300,000 in the past six months, and the company is on track to be profitable by the end of 2024, Law said.
“I believe this is the beginning of the revival. But there is a lot more work to do,” Law said.
In addition to prioritizing drawing lapsed users back to the site, Neopets is flirting with licensing its intellectual property for a trading card game and a branded Monopoly board.
“We are already on track to be profitable, but we want to make sure that is sustainable, and that we future-proof the IP and make sure we can survive for many more years to come,” Law said.
Amid continuing pressure to make Neopets financially viable in the real world, new leadership at the company also has to contend with the digital financial components of the site – which runs on the virtual currency of “Neopoints”. With few updates to the site over time, a vast black market has emerged for certain pets, and the site’s virtual economy has struggled with hyperinflation.
Healing the rift with Neopets fans
In the absence of upkeep on the official Neopets site, fans have made their own offshoots in the past decade, including fan fiction, puzzles and minigames. Law said that rather than cracking down on fan-created components, the company is embracing them. It launched a “Neopass” login system that allows users to access games across the Neopets system, including third-party and fan-made games.
“We’re probably one of the first gaming companies to open up our system to community projects,” he said. “There are so many fans who have been pouring their love and passion into creating these sites and we wanted to build a pathway for them to co-create with Neopets.”
Those projects are part of an “ongoing dialogue” with Neopets users that Law has sought to foster since he took the helm of the company. He hosts a monthly “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit, where there is a very active Neopian community, taking questions and suggestions about the future of the site.
Neopets has also created an ambassador program, which chose a handful of accounts from dozens of applications to work directly with Neopets teams to improve the site and the user experience. Similar to Reddit’s volunteer moderator system, the ambassador program is an unpaid opportunity for super-users to have a bigger say in how the site is run.
Such efforts to connect with Neopians have given many users hope that their experiences will be considered, particularly after the parent company experienced major backlash over a 2021 attempt to dive into NFTs and cryptocurrency. One user who goes by evilfaerie said the dialogue with fans had course-corrected that debacle.
“The new owners seem to be actively engaging with the community,” they said. “Because they are millennials who grew up on the site, you can see that their efforts are a labor of love – it makes it more meaningful.”
Source: How Neopets’ nostalgic revival tripled users in six months
Neopets seems to be doing a lot better under the direction and leadership of Dominic Law. Especially with going from 100,000 monthly players to now 300,000 monthly players. There’s still a lot for them to do in order to get more players back to Neopets, but they’re doing good.
What are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to new updates from Neopets and future changes?
