Tired of Letting Fans Love Its Brand, Disney Shutters Virtual Magic Kingdom
I guess successful marketing can become too much of a good thing. Last week, Disney shut down Virtual Magic Kingdom, its popular (and free) virtual-reality theme park.
“Disney plans to throw everyone out of VMK and lock the gates — erasing their online profiles, lives and collections of virtual trinkets and real estate. Disney says it never intended the 50th-anniversary promotion to run this long, but money is also a factor: Virtual Magic Kingdom is free, and full access to Disney’s other online game sites — like Club Penguin and Toontown — costs as much as $9.95 a month in the case of Toontown.”
Will the subscription-fee windfall be big enough to recover the lost value in brand-love by a core of its most evangelical supporters?
(Thanks, Matt!)
No, it won’t. Please visit my web site, http://www.savevmk.com, to read many, many comments about the heartbreak the children, disabled, and other lonely people are experiencing over losing their (very real) friends. It’s like Disney forced millions of children to move to a new school with all of their friendships and lives thrown into disarray. Many former VMKers, like me, are boycotting Disney, and are now going to http://www.virtualfamilykingdom.com instead of Disney’s paid sites. Thank you very much for your post. We appreciate it.