Nov 14, 2019 Moshi Monsters, a once massively popular web game that let you raise colorful creatures and complete mini-games around Monstro City, is shutting down.As Ryan Brown spotted on Twitter, the Moshi.

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Moshi Monsters
Developer(s)	Mind Candy
Engine	Adobe Flash Player
Platform(s)	Web browser
Release	16 April 2008-13 December 2019
Genre(s)	Online game

Moshi Monsters was a British website aimed at children aged 6–12,^[1] with over 80 million registered users in 150 territories worldwide.^[2] Users could choose from one of six virtual pet monsters (Diavlo, Luvli, Katsuma, Poppet, Furi and Zommer) they could create, name and nurture. Once their pet had been customized, players could navigate their way around Monstro City, take daily puzzle challenges to earn 'Rox' (a virtual currency), play games, personalize their room and communicate with other users in a safe environment, although this has been disputed.^[3] Moshi Monsters officially closed on 13 December 2019.

History[edit]

The game was created in late 2007 by Michael Acton Smith, and developed in 2008 by entertainment company Mind Candy and officially launched in April 2008.^[4] As of December 2009, there were at least 10 million players registered.^[5] In March 2010, Mind Candy announced that there were 15 million users and by September 2010, that number had surpassed 25 million.^[6] In June 2011, it was announced that there were 50 million users.^[7] On 13 December 2019, Moshi Monsters shut down permanently.

Gameplay[edit]

Monsters[edit]

The monsters are the characters that the user plays as. They are given a name by the user when they register at the website. There are six types of monsters. Poppet, Katsuma, Furi, Diavlo, Luvli, and Zommer.

Moshlings[edit]

The monsters (in-game pets) keep their own pets, called 'Moshlings'. They come in a variety of themed sets, including Arties, Beasties, Kitties, and Spookies. Those who aren't paying members can keep two 'Moshlings' in their room whilst paying members can keep up to six and visit other pets in the zoo.

Other[edit]

Merchandise[edit]

Since its digital popularity, Moshi Monsters has grown commercially to include physical products, including games, the Moshi Monsters Magazine (number one selling children's magazine in the UK in 2011),^[8] a best-selling DS video game,^[9] a number 4 music album, books, membership cards, bath soap, chocolate calendars, trading cards, figures of many Moshlings, mobile games, and a Moshi Monsters feature film. Eight Moshi Monster toys were included in McDonald's Happy Meals in the United States and Canada in December 2013.^[10]

DS game[edit]

In 2011 Mind Candy released a Moshi Monsters based Nintendo DS game. the game is themed around moshlings and collecting and caring for them.

Mobile games[edit]

In July 2013, Mind Candy released Moshi Monsters Village on Google Play,^[11] a 3D city-builder published by GREE and developed by Tag Games. After GREE UK shut down,^[12] Mind Candy decided to take over the game as publisher, leaving the development to Tag Games. The game was relaunched on Apple devices on 18 December 2013 immediately ahead of the release of the movie.

In December 2013, Mind Candy published the companion app Talking Poppet, also developed by Tag Games.

In February 2014, Moshi Karts was released on iOS by Mind Candy.

In June 2014, Moshling Rescue a 'match three' game based on the Moshling characters was released on iOS and Android.

In early 2015 Mind Candy released an app called World of Warriors which was shut down in October 2018.

In November 2016, they released the Moshi MonstersEgg Hunt app, alongside a companion storybook of the same name.

Music[edit]

In March 2012, Mind Candy confirmed a major partnership deal with Sony Music.^[13] The deal followed the recent launch of Mind Candy's own music label, Moshi Monsters Music. The deal will see Sony Music handle the distribution aspects of Moshi Monsters' music releases, starting with the debut album Moshi Monsters, Music Rox!Jason Perry, formerly with the UK rock band A and head of Moshi Music, is driving the new album. The Moshi Monsters series features music from Sonic Boom, Beatie Wolfe, The Blackout, Portia Conn, and songs such as 'Moptop Tweenybop' and 'Merry Twistmas'. Two albums are available on iTunes and Google Play, as well as on disc. One album contains the songs from Moshi Monsters: The Movie, and another album has some of Moshi Monster's first songs. Not all songs are available to buy on various platforms.

Movie[edit]

In 2013, Mind Candy announced a Moshi Monsters film. In September 2013, Issue 34 of the Moshi Monsters Magazine included a Moshi Music DVD with a short trailer. On 10 October 2013 a short preview of the trailer was broadcast on ITV Daybreak. Later that day, the trailer was released on MSN. The film was released on 20 December 2013 in the UK and 20 February 2014 in Australia. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on 14 April 2014 in the UK and 3 April 2014 in Australia.^[14]

Lady Goo Goo injunction[edit]

In October 2011, Ate My Heart Inc, representing the musician Lady Gaga, were granted an interim injunction by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales to stop Mind Candy, parent company of Moshi Monsters, from releasing music on iTunes by a Moshi Monster character known as Lady Goo Goo. The songs intended for release included the parody 'Peppy-razzi', similar to the Lady Gaga hit 'Paparazzi'.^[15] Justice Vos of the High Court ruled that Lady Goo Goo could appear in the Moshi Monsters game, but that Mind Candy could not release, promote, advertise, sell, distribute, or otherwise make available 'any musical work or video that purports to be performed by a character by the name of Lady Goo Goo, or that otherwise uses the name Lady Goo Goo or any variant thereon'.^[16] Lady Goo Goo was later replaced with a new Moshling named Baby Rox, who is not a parody of any particular celebrity.

Decline in popularity and relaunch[edit]

The creator of Moshi Monsters, Mind Candy, suffered a loss of £2.2m in 2013 due to a drop in sales from Moshi Monsters. The company's financial reports have shown that the profit declined by 34.8% from £46.9 million in 2012 to £30.6 million in 2013.

In 2015, Mind Candy revealed that they were preparing to relaunch Moshi Monsters for a younger audience of four- to seven-year-olds, initially as animation with apps and toys to follow. However, no changes have been made to the Moshi Monsters site since then, apart from the removal of the forums section.

Since 2015, the decline of Moshi Monsters and the site's creator Mind Candy has continued. The peak of Moshi Monsters' popularity was in 2012 at £46.9m, and it has continued to decline. In 2018, total revenues were £5.2m, compared with £13.2m in 2014.^[17]

The Moshi Monsters website was shut down on 13 December 2019.^[18]

Criticism[edit]

In 2015, both Bin Weevils and Moshi Monsters were told to change the wording of their in-app advertisements by the Advertising Standards Authority, who said that the adverts and phrases such as 'The Super Moshis need YOU' pressured users to buy certain items inside the game. Mind Candy said that it took its responsibilities 'very seriously with regards to how we communicate with all of our fans, especially children.' It went on to say that Mind Candy had 'been working with the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) to ensure that we adhere to best practice and have made changes to the Moshi Monsters game accordingly. We will continue to work with the ASA in any way possible.'^[19]

References[edit]

1. ^Mike Butcher (2 May 2013). 'As Moshi Monsters hits 5 years, can it pull off three new games?'. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014. Moshi Monsters started out as an online world of adoptable pet monsters for boys and girls aged 6-12 back in 2008.
2. ^Moshi Monsters founder: 'I was Mr Stress, now I'm Mr Calm'Archived 3 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Business Insider
3. ^'Moshi Monsters - Welcome to Moshi Monsters, Parents!'. www.moshimonsters.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
4. ^Online World Atlas: Moshi Monsters – Pt. 1, Overview', Worlds in Motion. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Archived 7 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^(4 December 2009). 'Millions and millions of big monstersArchived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine', The Independent. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
6. ^Yiannopoulos, Milo (8 September 2010). 'Moshi Monsters is leading the way on child safetyArchived 2017-11-14 at the Wayback Machine', The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
7. ^Barnett, Emma (7 June 2011). 'Moshi Monsters hits 50 million membersArchived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine', The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
8. ^ABC Figures Reveal Moshi Monsters Magazine is the Best Selling Children's Magazine in the UKArchived 28 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg
9. ^Moshi Monsters video game breaks chart recordArchived 4 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine, ToyNews
10. ^'Moshi Monsters gets QSR promo at McDonald's'. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
11. ^'Moshi Monsters Village - Apps on Google Play'. play.google.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
12. ^Ingrid Lunden (8 July 2013) https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/08/japans-gaming-giant-gree-retrenches-in-europe-shuts-down-uk-office-to-focus-on-development-in-the-u-s-for-western-market/Archived 9 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
13. ^'Sony Music partners with Moshi Monsters - News - Music Week'. www.musicweek.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
14. ^'Moshi Monsters (2013)'. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
15. ^Neither Mind Candy nor the Goo Goo Dolls can lay claim to being the first to whose given name has been appended the epithet 'Goo Goo'. For that honor one might turn at the very least to Lt. Gen. Leslie Richard ('Dick' or 'Goo Goo') Groves, Jr., a World War II-era US Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw not only the construction of the Pentagon for the US Department of Defense but also the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bombs that won World War II for the Allies and literally saved the world from autocracy. Chances are, too, there were other 'goo goos' in the US Army before Groves.
16. ^Sweney, Mark (13 October 2011). 'Lady Goo Goo injunction'. TheGuardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
17. ^'MIND CANDY LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)'. beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
18. ^''Moshi Monsters' is shutting down because it runs on Flash'. engadget.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
19. ^Rawlinson, Kevin (26 August 2015). 'Ad watchdog rebukes Moshi Monsters'. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.

This story was originally published on Oct. 19, 2018, and has been updated.

In this series,The Gambit, Entrepreneur associate editor Hayden Field explores extraordinary risk, speaking with successful people about how they overcame unusual obstacles to found a company or switched industries entirely in a 'career 180.'

One summer morning in 2014, Michael Acton Smith sat on a balcony overlooking a lush green valley in the Austrian alps.

He had booked a vacation by himself to get away from the stress of his crumbling online gaming company. The view, composed of abundant grass and far-off mountains, seemed almost cookie-cutter -- evoking a postcard, a computer desktop, a backdrop to rousing words on a motivational poster.

But Acton Smith wasn’t taking in the scenery. His eyes were closed, and his mind was clear.

That stretch -- 10 minutes of peace, he recalls -- was the co-founder of Calm’s most clarifying meditation experience. A friend (and Calm’s co-founder), Alex Tew, had entreated him to try the practice, but Acton Smith had rolled his eyes for years. It's too woo-woo, he thought. Religious. And what's up with the incense and outfits? Finally, after a mountain of stress at his company and continued encouragement from Tew, Acton Smith gave meditation a real shot.

Two years later, Acton Smith would join Tew in devoting himself to Calm full-time. It paid off. In 2015, he said, the meditation app brought in $2 million. By 2017, revenue had multiplied tenfold -- and the company won out over millions of others for Apple’s App of the Year. On Thursday, Calm closed an $88 million series B funding round with a valuation of $1 billion.

Seated on that balcony in 2014, conscious of his breath, Acton Smith opened his eyes for the first time. He calls it his lightbulb moment.

Everything around him seemed brighter.

The Detour

Acton Smith’s childhood was filled with pet rocks, Tamagotchis and video games, so it was only natural that around age 30, he started a kids’ entertainment company.

Mind Candy focused on online gaming, and soon after its launch in 2003, Acton Smith raised $10 million in venture funding. The idea that landed him the cash? Perplex City, a long-term alternative reality game in the form of a global treasure hunt. Users around the world would search for a stolen artifact from a fictional metropolis (Perplex City) using clues, puzzles and ciphers, the winner receiving a real-life reward of 100,000 pounds.

The search began in April 2005. Clues were decoded, trading cards were purchased and communities were formed, with the game wrapping up after one man found the artifact and won the reward in February 2007. But the game, at least financially speaking, was better in theory, and Mind Candy put the second round on hold indefinitely. It was a “commercial disaster,” Acton Smith says. With less than $1 million left in the company’s account, he knew he had to do something quick to turn things around.

He spent months brainstorming in London coffee shops with nothing to show for it except fruitless scribbles. But one day, Acton Smith’s napkin doodles yielded a series of little monsters, and he knew he had something. Those doodles would evolve into Moshi Monsters, an internet “pet” that, beginning in October 2007, would take the U.K. by storm.

The world of Moshi Monsters was similar to that of Neopets or Tamagotchi -- kids could log on and feed, hug or walk their monsters, and the pets’ personalities developed according to how well they were treated. There were online games, puzzles, shops -- even a messaging system for kids to chat with their friends. And those kids were the product’s best ambassadors, spreading the game like wildfire among classmates, extended family and friends at different schools.

“It took a few years before it caught fire, but when it did … it grew like nothing I’d ever seen before,” Acton Smith says. By the game’s 2012 peak, half of all British children ages six to 12 had reportedly adopted a Moshi Monster.

That level of growth resulted in a broad swath of partnerships. With Sony, a music album. With Universal Studios, a movie that premiered around the country. With SkyJack Publishing, a magazine that -- within six months of its launch -- became the best-selling children’s title in the U.K. Tens of millions of physical toys were being sold, awards were being won, team members were being hired (at one point, Mind Candy had more than 200 employees).

“We thought we were going to be the next Disney,” Acton Smith says.

But by fall 2012, Moshi Monsters had begun to fall apart. To Acton Smith’s shock, the virality that had propelled Moshi Monsters into being the “coolest thing on the playground” was also the principal factor in its demise.

For the past couple of years, Moshi Monsters’ subscription model had been raking in revenue -- parents paid for their kids to use the site, and there wasn’t much competition at the time. But in 2012, parents began buying their kids smartphones and tablets instead. The brand faltered when it attempted the switch from internet platform to mobile app. The revenue model would have had to change from subscriptions to in-app purchases, the company’s marketing technique would have required an overhaul and, with thousands of other apps at a child’s fingertips, there was simply too much competition.

One minute, Acton Smith felt like the poster boy of the U.K. tech scene with hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal. A few weeks later, he couldn’t sleep through the night for fear of being unable to keep his company afloat. That constant stress would last for years.

“I thought the world was ending,” Acton Smith says. He felt his self-worth and success were interwoven with the business, so when it began to fail, he felt completely responsible. That led to bouts of insomnia, exhaustion, headaches -- and things worsened when, over the next three years, he had to lay off 200 employees.

Acton Smith learned a valuable lesson about the often-fickle world of entertainment -- particularly kids’ entertainment. “Just because you’re growing like crazy doesn’t mean you’re going to grow like crazy forever,” he says.

The Leap

In 2006, Acton Smith met Alex Tew for the first time on a boat. The year before, he’d seen a deluge of headlines surrounding Tew, a teenager who, to raise money for college, created a website and sold each of its million pixels for a dollar each -- reaching millionaire status in just four months. The two became fast friends, then housemates. Tew was the first person to teach Acton Smith about meditation, and they often sat on their sofa discussing philosophy, neuroscience and business ideas.

In 2012, the two purchased Calm.com with the hazy idea to create products to help people relax, but although they floated ideas such as soothing videos and relaxing sound effects, they weren’t sure of its concrete direction. The next year, Tew moved to San Francisco for another job, and the two had regular transatlantic phone calls about the future of the company. The next year, for Acton Smith’s birthday, he, Tew and a group of friends took a trip to the Italian countryside. They had in-depth conversations about mindfulness and where they might take Calm, and they meditated together in the Tuscan hills.

That same year, when Moshi Monsters’ revenue began to tank, Acton Smith did something he’d never done before: Take a step back, alone in a new place, and collect his thoughts. He decided on a solo trip to the Austrian Alps and brought along books on meditation. One of them, 10% Happier, struck a chord. Nightline anchor (and, as he puts it, “lifelong nonbeliever” in self-help) Dan Harris had penned it after experiencing a panic attack on Good Morning America, then finding a down-to-earth meditation regimen that worked for him.

Something clicked for Acton Smith when he discovered that meditation wasn’t as much about incense or religion as it was about neuroscience. “I realized it was an ancient but valuable skill that could be relevant for everybody,” he said. He tried it on his hotel balcony on vacation, and afterward, he felt less stressed and more conscious of his breath. Colors even appeared more vivid.

Though Tew had been pushing Calm’s focus on meditation for a while, it wasn’t until Acton Smith’s balcony meditation experience that he agreed. Later that day, Acton Smith pulled out his notebook and poured out ideas for the company. He had experienced firsthand how stressful life -- and business -- was in Western society, and he felt that for most people, the future skewed even more stressful. He remembers thinking: Instead of being in the entertainment industry -- here today, gone tomorrow -- what if we could build a brand that could outlast us and be here for centuries? Wouldn’t that be an amazing thing to dedicate the rest of our careers to?

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Over the next year or two, Tew and Acton Smith chatted via phone, found developers and started to build Calm as it is now -- guided meditation and programs for everyone, both beginner and advanced. By January 2016, Acton Smith finally felt ready to step away from Mind Candy. He found a new CEO to take over (though he maintains, to date, his role as chairman) and moved to San Francisco to dedicate himself completely to Calm. He and Tew, who had already been working full time on Calm, agreed to be co-CEOs and split the company equally, but at the time, revenue was touch-and-go -- and the company didn’t have much money banked.

The Breaking Point

During the first half of 2016, Acton Smith worried whether Calm would be able to “keep the lights on.” At the company’s lowest point, there were a few thousand dollars left in the bank.

It didn’t help that potential investors kept giving them the boot.

Acton Smith and Tew left dozens of pitch meetings with “no” ringing in their ears. “When that happens a few times, you can cope,” Acton Smith says. “When it happens dozens of times, it makes you question whether you’re on the right path and whether smart investors know more than you do.”

Acton Smith heard through the grapevine that one investor had called Calm a “load of nonsense,” saying it was “never going to work.” He remembers another described the company as a “fluffy little meditation app.” Venture capitalists backed up their decisions with an investing idea championed by Warren Buffett -- the need for a “moat,” or an ability to maintain an advantage over competitors. Everyone seemed to think consumers could access the same services elsewhere for free -- that they wouldn’t pay for what Calm offered.

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The Turnaround

After about six months, Acton Smith and Tew decided they had no choice but to make the business profitable. They kept the team size under 10, worked long hours in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco and sharply questioned every outgoing dollar. Acton Smith paid for many of Calm’s expenses on his personal credit card.

By early 2016, Calm finally broke even.

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Although the small team worked out of that one-bedroom apartment for the first year or so, it’s now grown to 40 employees -- and together, they begin each day with a 10-minute meditation. Acton Smith said he feels Calm is holding onto a rocket ship for dear life and that there’s much further to go. He projected Calm’s 2018 revenue to be $80 million -- a far cry from the tens of thousands he spent on his credit card during launch -- and, after its valuation at the close of Thursday's series B funding round, Calm is now valued as a billion-dollar company.

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“The mind doesn’t come with an instruction manual,” Acton Smith says. “This is … the closest thing I’ve found.”

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To date, 35 million people have downloaded Calm, but that’s less than 2 percent of the number of smartphones worldwide. Acton Smith says he aims to bring meditation to every single one.