Neopets' New Ownership 

Interesting... I hope they can get the heart of neopets back. I'm skeptical still but excited, I can't wait to see what direction they head.

I'm glad Neopets is finally gonna get some tlc. Agreed that the 3D game doesn't make sense, but I suppose if they have all the assets from the NFT project already, then may as well do something with them. I just hope that project doesn't get in the way of them working on the browser game itself.

I didn't hear about Jumpstart going under. Kinda bitter sweet. So many of my childhood memories are tired to their games, but also to the website they ran into the ground. F i guess.

My biggest confusion is why they didn't lean in harder to the plushies - I got a few when they first launched but I just searched up the shop and they have 4 - 4 total all of which are key clip style plushies. They don't even have the once I already own. They could make major money with Plushies based off Lore Neopets ( a bit like Monster high Dolls) or have a get your own Neopet as a plush with fancy clothing and some fancy paper work (and I could see this being totally worth it as its not like they need a bunch of different patterns - only 55 species and some of them are super simple.) Or figurines if they don't want to mess around with fabric.

"What part of a browser-based game makes you think that people don't want to play a browser-based game?" is a QUOTE. I feel the same way, but I know there are some people who've been asking for an app/mobile-focused experience, so I hope it's something they enjoy even if it's not for me. I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts and insight!

Yesssss I missed your videos!

Always good to hear your thoughts on new changes. I'm cautiously optimistic but it's been so long since Neopets even delivered on some of their basic promises, its hard to get truly excited about announcements like this. I wanna hope but I dont wanna be let down again.

i wish i had any influence, they already have a beloved TCG they could just copy and paste that into a sim and i would throw money at them but they will never hear me

I am slightly excited about the game. I hope it'll be on switch. I am glad you are covering this " Thank you and i really hope itll be a turning point for neopets c:

"The ability to rename your pets" would be amazing. I have two pets with numbers in their name because the base name was taken, but where the original pets with that name no longer exist. It would be cool to be able to take the numbers off.

for the 3d game, i personally like the idea of bringing neopets more into "real life" so to speak. a big part of why i keep coming back to neopets is the nostalgia, so anything to add more depth and personality to the pets themselves is welcome (if done well). there's this free VR game on the oculus quest called 'Bogo' where you just interact with your own personal alien pet. you don't even leave the one area you're in so idk how complex it would be to make (though it is a VR game). still, i think something like that with all the different species of neopets could be a really cool, simple way to bring neopets to the 2020s.

lol, when you were going on the tangent about not wanting the 3d game, I was thinking how this exact thing is happening to tumblr, they're changing the website to attract new potential users, while allienating a pretty stable userbase who loves the website because it's different from the rest of social media websites... like, we like neopets because of what it is, not despite... adding a 3d game element might attract new kids, but the core fanbase who has kept using the site all this years like what they had... cater to them instead of potential new kids... be the best at your niche instead of trying to expand into something you're not...Like honestly... give me back the petpetpet habitarium and keyquest and I'll return to play again everyday

the skepticism is warranted i want to play neopets without having something else being thrown in my face

Heya Julie, I'm glad that the Neopets Metaverse has gone down like it should. Neopets is gonna hopefully be a lot better now.

I can very much understand the hesitancy given the fact the new head of neopets is the same one who was really trying to push the nft/metaverse market. I quit Neopets when they were doing the nft stuff, but from the article it really seems they wanna change for the better and listen more to the userbase. TNT has repeated history of overpromising and failing to deliver, but this seems really promising. I do wanna get back into Neopets again!

I'm just surprised this outcome didn't mean the closure of the site. Even if they can't keep all the update promises they made, the effort to keep the site alive is pretty amazing. Who knew that the saying 'Neopets don't die" is now keeping the site afloat.

my feelings about the 3D game are mixed. on the one hand that's the sort of game I dreamed about existing as a kid, well before the viacom days. I think it makes sense to capitalize on the Neopets IP to draw in younger players that didn't really grow up with browser-based games and don't see the appeal and to bring back older players that haven't touched the game in years, but had always been interested in a game like this; I think there's a lot of overlap between people who like life sim games and people who like browser-based virtual pet games. my concern is that they didn't even have enough resources to keep the website from snapping in half and I'm a little worried about their ability to make a whole online game - what sounds like an MMO - that isn't also broken beyond all recognition on release. it could be really good, I'd just hate to see them shoot themselves in the foot by releasing something half baked in a desperate attempt to bring new users to a site that doesn't even function

First off - thank you for taking the time to respond to this news and make a video on it! I always look forward to and watch your videos. I’ve been back playing neo consistently since this past December, coinciding with me using a desktop computer regularly again (i mostly used my phone and tablet) and I’ve really enjoyed playing between tasks and at the end of the day. This new leadership news is really exciting and serendipitous, I remember vividly the sell to viacom back in the day (the neopets commercials on nickelodeon!!!) and the jumpstart purchase too. I’m cautiously optimistic so far though, because I do remember those days. The mobile app is really killing me though 😭😭 Back around when the iphone was just starting to take off I thought it would be cool to be able to access Neopets through an app, and I know a lot of people play and like the Animal Crossing mobile game for example, but AC and Neopets are at their best in their intended mediums. It really boggles the mind, especially since they’ve made a few different mobile games to a barely lukewarm response. With social media in a weird place, I think it could be cool to have places on the web again like Neopets to interact with and chat with people, like back in the day. I hope you do in the end become an ambassador, you always have wonderful input and ideas! But i’ll watch regardless :)

Maybe the 3D immersive game will be like animal crossing? just something low key and cute. I think its easier to make a new game if you have an entourage of existing characters and world building to fall back on, rather than creating one from scratch

I think you make a really good point that its strange for them to completely disregard the core of their brand. Specifically you said why be something else when you can be the best of something else. This is such a good point for so many reasons. Following trends can only get you so far, but being the market leader in any field, regardless of how big or small has much more value. They can charge advertisers more, they are more likely to show up in search and be recommended, theres a lot of reasons. I do hope that they have BOTH, this new game that they seem to want to focus on, and return the browser game to where it once was, it was a great idea (and can very easily be turned into an app for that kind of omnichannel appeal)

I was hoping to hear someone talk about this change on RU-vid ! You highlighted pretty much everything I had been thinking. Overall… I’m excited to see what happens, but we have been given empty promises for so, so long. Can’t get your hopes up at this point, but the new ownership is something I’ve been waiting to see!

You NEED to be a brand amabassador specifically because your opinion is different to that of the inexpert team trying to handle the wheels of Neopets. None of these people know anything about Neopets or its story. Current TNT and the head of the company don't know about dupe day, ad0, old Battledome, sponsor games, immersive ads, trophy game strategies, pound chat economy, avatars, stamps, economy, the community, the black market, the controversies... So many things they are clueless about. The sooner someone gets them to drop the dumb 3D game and only makes them focus on the actual website + a working app or mobile version of it... That's the only way. I still feel like a reboot would also be the best solution. I am but a drop of water on the ocean, but you can make a difference!

I love your videos Julie! 🥰 I don't play Neopets anymore but I'm always interested in the latest developments. I hope you cover more because I might even go back to Neopets if this goes well 👀

It's exciting news!

The second I saw the news, all I could think about was when you were gonna drop a video on it! I basically agree with all your takes, especially the "new game" thing.

I'm totally on the other end of the spectrum with the 3d mobile game. I've been playing neopets since the beginning, I love neopets and I'm a premium member. However, I'm over browser games. It's too much of a hassle. I love mobile games, im the kind of girl that will happily pay for micro transactions in a mobile game that I like. I think if neopets wants to get with the times, attract new/returning users, they need to migrate into mobile games. They don't have to abandon the browser game and I don't think they should. But mobile games are an amazing idea and they are realistically what the company should pursue if they want to turn a profit.

I believe that a big part of the apps are trying to draw new people in as a marketing pull. Hopefully it doesn't take away from the focus on the website. Pokemon GO definitely brought a lot of new fans, as an example

They should release UC pets, additional pet slots and rare NC clothing/accessories through the NC mall. They could print free money this way!!!

I hope they keep the browser game as the core experience and things like this new 3D game are like the mobile games were and are just simply expanding on the brand because Neopets can work as an entire IP if they don't alienate the people who made it possible for it to get where it is.

SO exciting!!!

Thanks for the update did not realize how big the news was.. i thought they were just getting acquired again. NOPE.. they going independent!!!

6:24 I AM SO HAPPY that Neopets will finally be using Ruffle. My BF and I have messaged Neopets via their FaceBook numerous times to use Ruffle. Lol we even asked our friends to comment on the Facebook page about Ruffle. I have high hopes Neopets will get better care; I mean the video they put out talking about a plot sounds like good news.

i'm so excited

I think a 3D immersive Neopets type game would be really cool.....but only if it connects to the site. Like, let me play MY Neopets from my account. Let me take things back and forth between the two. Anyway, tentatively excited! I think after a very long absence, I'll start fresh and make a new account, maybe.

I think because the site backend is so ancient and fragile that they really want to be able to move away from the old website... but yeah, I don't see a reason to keep inventing new games that take away from the original instead of building on to the main site.

I'm overall really excited about these changes. The main Neopets page is changing in the next day or two, so we'll see how that is! I'm VERY excited for the TCG. I love collecting cards and can hopefully trade my Pokemon cards for some. I'm not too excited about World of Neopia, since I don't play mobile games much any more, but once I can I'll definitely give it a shot! Especially if you can earn rewards or NP for the site itself.

exactly the person whose thoughts I was waiting for on this, you're a legend PSJulie! Too bad you couldn't make it to ComicCon but if they don't snipe you as a brand ambassador they're NUTS. I'll tell ya what, I'm skeptical as heck after the years of stop-starts but nevertheless I've been logging in for dailies again since the announcement lol Yeah I agree though Idk what they're thinking with the 3D game -- I think they have the right idea expanding the game past the bounds of the original website to capture a wider modern audience but I think this approach appeals to neither that new audience nor to classic Neopians, I hope they aren't putting too many of their resources there lol

majorly disagree about world of neopets mobile game. i think it sounds cute and could help with getting new, especially younger players. as much as browser games do have their own core demographics, at the end of the day it is still a niche audience that is largely millenial. and while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, its clear that neopets is trying to Grow for the first time in a long time and in order to do that they will need something new and external to the base game like this. i see nothing wrong with that, personally

I was hoping to see a video from you about this! I'm feeling optimistic, I really hope this is a good change moving forward.

World of neopets sounds a lot like a 3d version of petpet park which is pretty upsetting to me because i wish they brought that back instead. Though the IP might be owned by someone else. I know there's a rebuild project in the works but it's a lot of work for a few people and i kind of doubt they will be able to remake the game out of pocket

Julie I feel like I made this exact comment like 7 years ago but you’re so soothing to me and I have no idea why, like I genuinely don’t play any of the games you cover and don’t really have any interest in them, but the way you talk about stuff in your videos is always so interesting and pleasant to listen to. I just went back and watched your UC neopets drama and I kinda need more virtual pet drama….

Anyone on here got gloves/hat anything of the muffin man items 😅 I've been looking for 2 decades... Along with muffins and cupcakes I don't have for my collection. 😂 Love this channel. Julie, you are awesome and glad to hear some good news...💯💯💯

I sort of dropped off on neopets after the nft fiasco, but I'm excited to see what's going to happen! This is the first time in a while where I've wanted to jump back into the game. Such cool news!

I agree, I would pay hundreds to have an unconverted pet option. Like literal hundreds. They have so much they could squeeze out of us to make this the best browser game. Stop with the dumb mobile games no one cares for! We just want the site fixed! All of it. Games, battledome, economy, wardrobe/wearables, keyquest/habitarium, expand the guilds options, push adoptions again instead of transfers- transfers RUINED the economy imo. Once draiks/krawks were no longer the highest sought after things, everything just crashed. Give us plots! Deep plots! Tricky plots that dont just rely on repetitive flash games! Just give us 2004 neopets back.

I was just thinking "I wonder what Julie thinks about the news" lol, I'm also hopeful about the news and hoping this change in leadership breathes some much needed life into the game!

i ignored the newsletter initially, i havent been actively playing since the nft nonsense, and after that last major security breach, i felt as if that was the last straw for me. i'm pretty dubious. the idea that neopets could become something like it used to be and a functional site that isn't 4 different eras of internet web formatting stitched together in a shambling frankenstein's monster of graphic design is an exciting thought. but having watched the site literally rot before my eyes in the past over a decade i can't say my visions of neopets future are bright. i wish the new owners the best in any case.

I agree, fix the browser first then people will come back, then work on the 3D game after. We want the browser to work well before we can have faith in any other games they are making.

this could be great!

I'm interested to see if I could get back into neopets in the future! Haven't touched it in months. I've been on IcePets!!

Hey at least now I can log on to Neopets and not be supporting an NFT project 😎 that's good i guess! And I want to be optimistic but maaaaan I will believe these changes when I see them

I feel like there are things that they can do an alter to make a browser-based game more attractive to a new userbase, without completely casting aside the needs and preferences of the userbase you've built over the years in favor of new eyes... If people don't like browser-based pet games, then that's fine, but we do.

they could've just bring key quest back and expand it as the 3d game, which is qwhat people really liked- but oh well, i'm indeed optimistic as well!!

I won't complain about ANOTHER Neopets mobile game IF they actually have it link to user's Neopets account and give you incentives to play it that transfer to your account. Make it worthwhile to actually play. The last thing I want is another Neopets-branded clone of another popular mobile game. Just link the dang accounts and give out good rewards, TNT pleaseeee.

I think "world of neopets" the 3D game is likely going to be the game that they were developing for metaverse. Kevin had a video showing it off. It seems very webkinz-like.

Will you ever cover Subeta? i barely see people talk about that pet site and it's sad

Havent played flight rising in years but i should again! I had pages and pages of them

Been with Neopets probably since 2003. I've never been able to really enjoy it fully. At it's peak never any items available, even gaining neopets was a pain sometimes. Even now in the dark corners of my email inbox I will find Neopets calling out after all this time. Hoping to see a change, where we can actually enjoy it.

Heh, no. Jumpstart directly bought Neopets in 2014. Then NetDragon bought Jumpstart for the SOLE PURPOSE of separating out Neopets in 2017. That took 5 years to finagle legally. Once that went through in early June, they suddenly shut down Jumpstart. All Jumpstart games were sundowned on June 30th with a little less than 3 weeks of warning. Even Jumpstart employees were taken by surprise, as events were being planned and new content was being created actively for some of these games when the news came through, and the employees rushed to release what content they could to players and basically threw everything that was previously behind paywalls out as f2p (School of Dragons). So. This destroyed one of my favorite games. Thanks. I played Neopets for over a decade, and I quickly started hating it under Jumpstart. When my account was falsely frozen in 2017, I didn’t even try to get it back. So, I have no idea what’s been going on, but it’s been a constant downward spiral since The Fairies’ Ruin. The game was actively breaking when I was frozen, and I can’t imagine it’s gotten better. I have no idea how anything resembling the actual Neopets can continue to exist, especially since Flash and other things have now basically gone offline. I’m pretty sure that the same thing will happen to Neopets that’s happened to every other IP I’ve loved over the past 15 years - they will skin it, throw out all the innards that made it what it was, crawl inside and wear the IP around as a skinsuit, and when I point out that it’s not the IP and that this is cultural vandalism, I’m a “hater” now somehow.

I wish they could focus the 3d game on like, a story based one??? Make another game with a cool plot like darkest faerie maybe. I am keeping one wary eye on Neopets for now, my hopes have been destroyed too many times with them.

I still feel like Neopets could benefit from a reboot. I have been playing Grundo's Cafe and this is so much well-designed as an actual game. Neopets needs to refresh.

YESSSS we want an app! I also want darkest faerie game merch lol

Aside from the cookbook I can’t really find any neopet merch

They can't just make any 3D game, it's specifically Neopets because the IP is marketable and profitable.

So far the new website has links to the old website and a couple of mobile games along with basic information on the world and characters inside the Neopets lore umbrella. Unfortunately the apps have very low ratings and don't seem to work well and as far as I can tell the old website has had no changes. Most of the games still don't work :(

I’m excited for the game as someone who isnt a huge fan of how original Newpets runs in todays gaming sphere

new vid is cause for celebration ^_^

just let me do my dailies from my phone wihtout feeling ortopedic, no 3d, just a portable neopets, thats it.

Believe me, I really get that frustration of companies fixing what isn't broken. I'm a huge Tekken fan, but the thing is that Tekken is competing for basically the same userbase that is choosing if they'll dedicate time to games like Street Fighter, which plays completely differently to Tekken. This makes Bandai Namco more likely to put in features that are familiar to Street Fighter players to pull in the userbase. An unfortunate aspect of Neopets' position is they are, from the corporate eye, competing with Pokemon, so they will push the IP to adopt aspects that are familiar to pokemon players (like fully 3d games). As much as the "hardcore" userbase has fallen in love with the mechanics of the game, it's hard to push a corporation to do things that will keep an audience that they know are going to stay around.

Me when Pet Simmer Julie post a new Neopets video: Sheeesssshhhhhh 😩❤️✨️

A wedding AND training for a half marathon? On top of getting a VIP ticket to the Neopets party?! But for real, congrats on all of that. I know I enjoy your channel for your commentary, but it's great to also hear that the person behind the videos is thriving themselves 😁

I logged in for the first time in a long while and did a few dailies and then got logged out and now the website says my password is wrong. Tried to reset the password but got nothing emailed…hopefully the technical side of things gets addressed as well…

I'll be honest, I haven't paid attention AT ALL to Neo since the NTF bs. I can't think of any change that JumpStart introduced I was happy with. Yeah, some of the board rules and censors are aged and irrelevant and are in desperate need of updating but JS didn't add anything positive IMO. Their attempts at plots were shallow and boring, and I absolutely hated the art style changes. They tried, I'll give them that. Ah well, Neo cannot possibly get any worse with a new owner than JS.

I feel like I understand both sides of the argument for the “3D game”. On one hand, they obviously realize the brand has been stagnant for over a decade now, and want to attract new players. On the other hand, the likelihood of a massive brand resurgence at this point in Neopets’ life is very low, and they could do well to just try to appeal to their core audience of aging millennials who grew up playing the game as it was. Personally, I dropped the game when they changed to the gross “mobile friendly” interface that wasn’t even fully implemented. It’s just so unintuitive, and navigating the site is so much more confusing than it used to be. I hope they fix things up again in a happy middle ground, where it doesn’t look stuck in 2003, but is easily understandable for the people who grew up playing it around that time.

Have you played darkest faerie for PlayStation? It’s one of my favorite games

I think this brand ambassador idea is a total mistake. In most cases I've seen where such a program has been tried, it leads to a whole host of problems. When you effectively give special privileges to certain players, you create easily misunderstood or potentially abused positions, as said players knowingly or unknowingly filter the player base's desires through their own biases and influence development. This also creates issues within the game's community as players attempt to win the favor of said ambassadors and it opens a whole can of worms with opportunities for nepotism, manipulation, bribery, and worse. It sounds incredibly petty, but it's what happens. Seems really silly to implement something like this when so many Neopets players are already so forthcoming with their desires. In Neopets's case, this ambassador program is already off to a bad start, as the Neopets Team have, bafflingly, brought on a minor celebrity who has no meaningful connection to Neopets, and who likely has little to no time playing it. Comes off as a shallow attempt to help market the site to his fans.

I wonder if they'll be finally answering tickets, I want my 15 year old account back, lol

idk IS neopets worth still being a browser game clearly there isn't that many people playing or it would be not operating at a loss.

Would’ve preferred for them to bring petpet park back instead of a new 3d game :(

I’m like so tired of these apps. Like STOP MAKING APPS. FIX THE WEBSITE. It’s like screaming at a wall. Lol i would buy more NC cash if they fixed the website! I already pay for premium and it’s like what am I paying for?

Can we talk about how they completely forgot about other languages communities? There are items that don't appear if you switch to spanish.. Everything is more glitched

I will never download an app for a pet/dress up site. The gaia one is awful, I've learned my lesson.

Im jusy gonna say it the neopets app just sound's like webkinz next and that sounds bad cause I love webkinz next

i hope the site and app and all official neoepts projects tank and fail. the more success they have the more incentives they have to shut down fan sites that have succeeded at properly creating the version of neopets that i want to play :) please fail tnt

Literally I want a website not an app lol 3D always ends up being so ugly. The 3D webkinz, those new cartoons like rugrats that they made 3D, all hideous

ty for leaving all that in the about for this video cus u go on wayy too long get to the point girly p sure 10 is all u need for ads :/

I think the 3D game is more to attract new players and to reuse the Neopets Metaverse assets, if you look it up they already made a lot for the Metaverse even had 3D games, houses and Neopia Central (with the most angry Money Tree the world ever see) and I bet that 4 million investment was for the Metaverse, if you look up on google Dominic Law Forbes you will see an article about the Metaverse and it shows that the investors gave 4 millions for it and find too weird if Neopets suddenly got the same amount in the two different ventures. Another thing I feel that this new mobile game will be is going to be their Neopets 2, because they said kinda the site is too big and wanted something fresh, I think they will keep the Neopets site around, like you said have many ways to get money with it and have a big loyal user base while the mobile they will need to work a lot to get. I didn't want to feel too optimist but it seems that finally Neopets train found its rails again, but only time can tell.

So I do also play FR and Lorwolf everyday, and I love browser based games, but I can understand why anyone who could afford to buy the company would want to just use the brand recognition to make something else entirely. I mean ~4k DAU (daily average users) on FR, and 500-2k DAU on Lorwolf, is a teeny tiny amount of users for the games business as a whole. Only somewhere between 2-30% of players ever spend a dime on Free to Play games. So, realistically, it's something that only passionate owners who genuinely love the genre and the job could maintain. It's not a profitable venture, it's for fun and might just barely pay the bills. Mobile games make a ton of money if done well, eons beyond browser games. Dragon City comes to mind, being a similar type of pet ownership game but as a mobile app. Dragon city has hundreds of thousands of daily users. Big audience, and thus way more money. After some googling I do actually see Neopets does have around 100k daily users, and ~1 million monthly, so that's actually a fantastic pool of people. Mainly just FR and Lorwolf weren't good examples of proof of audience size/demand. I have a feeling Neopets is stuck in this weirdo limbo where the brand recognition is huge, and so the company itself is expensive to buy and maintain servers for, and thus the only people who could buy it are probably ones who want increased returns on their investment. Sadly not likely to be anyone who is just truly passionate about browser pet sim games. Honestly though, the only way I see Neopets making a true comeback is if someone from within the Neopets community who has loved it for years takes the helm. It needs someone who cares about this specific genre, regardless of it being very niche for gaming. They would need to let go of expectations. So, I guess with new ownership, I hope that a 3D mobile game brings in enough money to maintain both that game, and revitalizing the original website. I play browser games way more often than traditional video games because I work from home at my computer, but I would also love a well made 3D game in the neopets world. Maybe it'll be a mobile game as expansive as Genshin Impact, rather than the more cliche Candy-Crush-esque small world games. My point is basically just that while the browser based pet sim market does exist, it's one that gets by because of passion, and not because it's impressively profitable. Regardless, the news is exciting!

Just found your channel and I absolutely love you and your advice about Neopets 🥹❤️