Neopets plans comeback in a vastly different era of gaming

Moving abroad can be a lonely experience. For Dominic Law, moving from Canada to Hong Kong at 9-years-old in 1996 — before calls over Wi-Fi were widespread — meant that contacting friends was nearly impossible.

In an interview with CNBC at Gamescom Asia in Singapore, Law, who is now the new owner of virtual pet website Neopets said, “Back then, we only had a landline number, and IDD calls were so expensive. So when I went back to Canada to visit, that’s where my friends introduced me to Neopets… and I played a lot with them and reconnected with all my friends back in Canada.

“It’s great that we can have a platform that transcends public geography and connects people, and I think that’s a big part of my childhood.”

Nearly two decades later, Law is now the CEO of World of Neopia, the team that bought Neopets in July for $4 million from Chinese company NetDragon Websoft.

For those who grew up in the early years of the internet, the bright yellow interface of Neopets would be a familiar sight.

Neopets was launched in 1999, and the game allowed players to care for cartoon pets, chat with other users, and play minigames. The game has a total of 150 million registered users and at the height of its popularity in 2005, the game had 35 million monthly active users, Law tells CNBC.

The World of Neopia CEO previously worked for NetDragon Websoft, helping the company restructure their education technology business, which included Neopets.

In that role, Law…