Disney to Shut Down Toontown Online, Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Taking another step in their transition to mobile development, Disney has shut down Toontown Online and Pirates of the Caribbean Online, as reported by Bloomberg. Aside from perhaps some EA-developed Star Wars title, I’m not foreseeing Disney offering us any material to cover in the near future.

Toontown, in which members form teams to fight evil robots, will close on Sept. 19, according to a website announcement. The $9.95-a-month game, which Disney called the first massively multiplayer online title for kids and families, made its debut in June 2003. Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow will also close.

(We are shifting our development focus toward other online and mobile play experiences, such as Club Penguin and a growing selection of Disney Mobile apps,) the Burbank, California-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

The changes leave the $7.95-a-month Club Penguin as the only so-called virtual world operated by Disney. The site, acquired in 2007, is the largest of its kind, according to the company, which is asking players to move there. Club Penguin has added content tied to characters from (Star Wars) and Pixar films such as (Monsters University.) More than 200 million penguin characters have been created, Variety reported in July.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.