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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You guys rock for this, I never expected to play Webkinz in my browser like I, my siblings, and my mom did all those years ago. I will be patiently waiting, having more people be able to play will be great <3
This is the best!! I’m excited!
Well….I am crying with joy! (I know…old 70something women shouldn’t be this excited about this awesome news, but I am!!!!) I think this is just what many of us have been wishing/dreaming/praying about for years, and now….our wishes/dreams/prayers have been answered! I think I am most excited about the coming updates of the mobile app!!! How wonderful will that be to be able to travel with my Android phone and my Apple iPad, and be able to play on Webkinz and not miss events/games/etc, no matter where I am, home or traveling! I can’t Thank You All enough! This news has made this old lady, so happy! I…can’t…wait!!! What a wonderful adventure we will all be having soon! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Ganz/Team Webkinz! This is just icing on the 20th Year Cake! And, it is deliciously awesome! Making a little heart sign for all by using the letter 3 and the ‘greater than’ sign. Wish we could add memes to our comments here. ;-) LOL! My love to all! <3 (that's a heart! lol!!!!)
This is amazing news!
extremely excited for this!!! Im so happy that yall have been working on this, thank you so so much for your hard work!
Exciting news! Will the desktop app be removed in favor of the browser version? Will both options remain available? Will the app receive a performance overhaul to match that of the website (assuming that writing the code from Flash to HTML or another type will squash some bugs)?
Oh my gosh! I can’t stop smiling! I had all but given up the idea of ever playing it as a web browser again. I am so excited! The nostalgia!
OH MY GOSH!! I’m so excited!! This is big news! I gotta admit, since they announced Next, I’ve been thinking “why can’t they just work on Classic upgrades/features instead?” But y’all been doing BOTH?! I’m honestly impressed and again, so excited!
What exciting news! We appreciate your hard work Webkinz team!
This is the best surprise ever! You did a really great job of keeping this under wraps until now. Am I to understand that all players will be assisting in Beta testing or only select players like Next?