Back in 2005, we launched Webkinz as one of the first fully featured Flash web sites. Flash wasn’t just an animated element, or a game embedded in the page, it WAS the game. We had created a virtual world for you and your pet to immerse into… in a browser.
For 15 years players went daily to webkinz.com to hit that big “Log In” button to join their pets in having hours of fun.
With the discontinuing of Flash at the end of 2020, Webkinz World’s days as a browser destination also came to an end. Our developers were able to keep Webkinz World alive with the fully featured Webkinz application on PC and Mac, and the mobile versions on iOS and Android, but internally we always had the idea that one day we could return to browsers like Chrome and Safari and have our game playable anywhere, on any device.
Today, on the 20th Anniversary of our launch, we are proud to announce that Webkinz Classic will be returning to browsers later this year.
We have had one goal with this project – get everything working, particularly those features that mobile players currently don’t have access to, like challenges, the Curio Shop, trading, and the Employment Office. And of course, we had to get all the games running – from our earliest games like Pumpkin Patch Protector, to favorites like Cash Cow and Jumbleberry Fields.
And like the downloadable app and the mobile app, all this works with your existing data. Playing in a browser will just be another way to play!
Here is your first look at the game in action (the URL has been intentionally hidden):
Employment Office – PC, Chrome
Arcade – PC, Chrome
Curio Shop – iPad, Safari (we will be addressing the scaling issues)
Now while we’ve come a very long way, we still have a lot of work to do. We are still working on features and once those are complete, we will have a long bug testing and fixing phase. We are aiming for an early Q4 release for everyone to enjoy.
We are also discussing beta events where players will be able to try out what we have (knowing that there will be bugs). We will provide more details on these in the coming months.
Finally, and I’m sure that this will be music to many players ears, our overall goal is to get Webkinz Classic to a point where we can begin developing all new features and finally fix features that have been missing for too long.
We appreciate every fan who has enjoyed our plush and our virtual world over the past 20 years and this project is just one of the many steps that we will be taking to ensure that the next 20 years provides even more joy and fun to all our players, new and old alike.
- Your furry friends in Webkinz World
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It’s amazing that Webkinz has lasted through so many technology changes. Thank you to everyone who knows all this software computer programing stuff so that we can continue to enjoy our beautiful wonderful game. You guys are amazing! This is such a small and simple pleasure that means the Webkinz World to us. :)
I’m so excited for this, I could CRY T-T Thank you all SO MUCH for bringing it back. I hope that I am able to sign up for the beta test. I don’t mind dealing with the bugs and such until they get it fully worked out lol
I NEVER thought I could hear better news. I absolutely can’t stand the PC app with a passion and always enjoyed the in browser experience best. Per chance does this mean that other things we’ve requested and were told we’d get will happen? EI moving doors? deleting rooms? better dock organization? One can truly hope right? Thank you SO much for this news.
I have a suggestion that’s a bit strange but I hope it will be taken into consideration. Would it be possible to someday have a feature on the WK Classic web browser to have an option to play on the original layout or even the REALLY old original layout? I’m talking way back about the very first layout that had the dark purple and orange gold dock, and that Comic Sans font that was almost everywhere. This is what Webkinz World looked like when I first started and even though I like the current full screen layout, it would be so heartwarming and nostalgic to be able to play on that very first original layout again. It would be a cool experience for other players too that didn’t get that chance to experience the start of Webkinz World! I know it seems like a weird, impossible idea but somehow, someday if the game makers can make it happen, that would be awesome!
I’m so happy I could cry!
so exciting!!! I can’t wait to see what lost features will be coming back- Maybe TVs will be functional again? Best wishes to the team for working so hard on this, I hope everything goes smoothly!
Playing arcade games on mobile is about to go crazy!
Would this fix being able to visit players houses?
Thank you everyone on the Ganz team for all your hard work! Big News!
Wow this is incredible news, what a lovely surprise! It would be super cool to possibly see new features in classic.