Moshi Monsters: What Happened to the Kids' Game, and What Parents Should Know Now

For a few years around the early 2010s, Moshi Monsters was everywhere in elementary schools. Kids adopted a cute monster, decorated its room, played puzzle games to earn currency, and visited friends' monsters in a colorful online world. There were trading cards, toys, magazines and even a movie.

The original game is gone, but the brand lives on, and a new game is on the way. Here's what happened, and how to think about the online worlds your kids are drawn to today.

What Moshi Monsters was

Moshi Monsters was created by the London studio Mind Candy and launched in 2008. It was a browser game aimed at children roughly 6 to 12.

• Adopt a monster. Kids chose from a handful of monster types, named it and looked after it.
• Earn and spend Rox. The in-game currency came from puzzles and games and bought furniture, food and clothes.
• Collect Moshlings. Small creatures that kids collected by meeting specific conditions in the game.
• Visit friends. Players could visit each other's rooms, leave messages on a pinboard and send gifts.
• Membership. A paid subscription unlocked more areas, items and features.

Safety was built into the design. Messages were filtered, players were encouraged not to share personal details, and moderation was part of the experience. For many families, Moshi Monsters was a child's first social game.

What happened to it

Popularity peaked early in the decade and declined as children moved to mobile devices and other games. On December 13, 2019, the Moshi Monsters web game closed. The timing matched the end of web browser support for Adobe Flash, the technology the game was built on.

Moshi today

Mind Candy turned the brand into something quite different: Moshi Kids, a sleep and relaxation app with bedtime stories, sleep sounds, music and mindfulness audio, set in the Moshi Monsters world. If your child has a Moshi app on their tablet in 2026, it's most likely this one.

A planned comeback

In 2025, Mind Candy turned to crowdfunding on Kickstarter to make a new Moshi Monsters game for mobile devices. Its first campaign was cancelled before its goal was met, and a second campaign with a lower target was funded. The new game is still in development, and reported release timings have shifted, so check official Moshi channels for current news. When it arrives, it will be a new product with its own rules, so it's worth reviewing like any new game.

What Moshi Monsters can teach us about kids' online worlds

The things parents checked on Moshi Monsters are the same things worth checking on any online world or social game your child wants to join today.

1. Who can talk to my child?

The safest kids' games either have no chat, use pre-written phrases, or filter chat heavily and limit it to approved friends. Open chat with strangers, especially voice chat, is a big step up in risk. Check the game's settings and the device's parental controls.

2. How does the game make money?

Moshi Monsters used memberships. Many games today rely on in-game currency and purchases instead, which can mean constant nudges to buy. Turn on purchase approval:

• Apple: Ask to Buy through Family Sharing.
• Android: Purchase approvals in Google Family Link.
• Consoles: Spending limits in the console's family settings.

Our guide on how to restrict in-app purchases has the details for Apple devices.

3. Is it designed for my child's age?

Look at the app store age rating and the game's own terms. A game built for children under 13 in the U.S. has to follow COPPA, the children's privacy law, which limits what data it can collect without a parent's consent. A game rated for teens or adults may not offer those protections at all.

4. What happens to my child's data?

Read the privacy section of the app store listing. Kids' games should collect as little as possible and never show personalized ads.

5. Can I see what's going on?

The best kids' platforms offer a parent account or dashboard. If there's no way for you to see friends lists or activity, that's worth weighing.

6. How does my child feel after playing?

Notice whether a game leaves your child relaxed and proud of what they made, or anxious, frustrated and asking to buy more. Games built around daily rewards, streaks or limited-time items can create pressure to keep logging in. Those are design choices, and it's fair to steer your child toward games that don't rely on them.

Finding good alternatives

There isn't one direct replacement for Moshi Monsters, but kids who loved it often enjoy:

• Virtual pet and creature-collecting games on tablets and consoles, preferably single-player or with friends-only play.
• Building and creative games with private servers or parent-managed friends lists.
• Story, puzzle and drawing apps with no social features at all.

Our roundup of kid-friendly social networking options and our list of free, fun educational apps are good starting points.

The bottom line

The original Moshi Monsters closed in 2019. The Moshi name now lives on as a kids' sleep app, and a new mobile game is in development. Whatever online world your child joins next, run through the same checklist parents used back then:

1. Is chat limited, filtered, or turned off?
2. Are purchases locked behind your approval?
3. Is the game designed and rated for your child's age?
4. Does it collect only the data it needs?
5. Can you see who your child is playing with?