The browser-based virtual pet game Neopets has announced that the IP and its development team, The Neopets Team (TNT) is now an independent studio once again.

This comes following the shutdown of their previous parent company Jumpstart Games, who themselves were owned by the Chinese developer NetDragon.

This was announced by the official Neopets Blog on Medium which says that the development team is now part of a new company called “World of Neopia” under new CEO Dominic Law. Law had previously led of NetDragon’s Neopets Metaverse NFT project while working at Jumpstart.

According to the blog post, Law pushed Netdragon to save Neopets after the decision to shut down Jumpstart Games and a management buyout deal was struct, allowing Neopets to act as an independent company once again. The team now wishes to revitalize the brand after it had been operating at a loss for over a decade.

“Until this point, Neopets has been running at a loss for over a decade, making it hard to enact any major overhaul; however, in early 2023 Neopets raised $4M in funding from various investors with plans to nurture a shared dream of an immersive, community-driven gaming experience. In tandem with additional funding from the management buyout, TNT has been primed to enact real, actionable change for Neopets. We truly want more for Neopians”!

“This magical community deserves to thrive, not just survive. Thanks to our new leadership direction and the fresh source of funding, it finally can. The Neopets Team is, for the first time in over a decade, equipped to make meaningful changes in pursuit of a Neopian renaissance”.

Despite Law being the head of the in-development Neopets NFT games and the brand receiving $4 million USD in funding from crypto companies, the developers (via PC Gamer) state that they will also be “transitioning away from” NFTs.

Instead, the company says that it will take the assets from the Neopets NFT Project and use them to create a new mobile game called “World of Neopets” which they say will not include any NFTs or Cryptocurrency.

“The Neopets Team has taken a close look at every nook and cranny of Neopets, and after doing so, the decision has been made to transition away from the Neopets Metaverse game and redistribute those resources to the development of a game that we feel can better reflect our values and vision”.

Aside from the new mobile game, they have announced that they will revamp the existing Neopets website by fixing bugs and restoring games that were taken down by the shutdown of Adobe Flash which the site previously ran on.

On July 20th a new homepage will launch for the Neopets website which includes a roadmap with more details on what content updates will be in store for the brand in the new future.