The ‘Neopets renaissance’: the seminal 2000s game is ready for its revival

A nasty breakup spurred Maddy to search for comfort — and reclaim her old Neopets account.

Back in 2005, the now 28-year-old social media marketer, had been among tens of millions of children engrossed in the online pet game’s candy-coloured universe.

As she got older, she pushed her Neopets aside for other hobbies. And like many titans of the early web, the site eventually became a shadow of its former self.

Then the pandemic hit, and Neopets saw a mild resurgence as people leaned into comfort and distraction. In a burst of nostalgia, Maddy attempted to regain her account, but she got no response from the game’s much-diminished development team, and abandoned it.

Yet by last August, word was spreading among old players that something had changed.

"I’d seen people getting accounts back, and I wanted to reconnect with my inner child after I lost so much of myself in that relationship," Maddy tells The Independent.

This time, her appeal succeeded – a symptom of the surprise injection of cash and energy from a new management team that hopes to reverse years of technological decay and corporate neglect.

Backed by $4 million in new investment, the Neopets team has bought itself out from its former owners and embarked on an unlikely quest to bring about a "Neopets renaissance".

The company has even recruited pop star John Legend, who says Neopets has "always been a favourite" in his house, as a brand ambassador.

"I’m definitely taking a leap of faith," chief executive Dominic Law, himself a former Neopets player, tells during a sit-down interview at the