Original Development Team to Join Toontown Online 20th Anniversary Panel

Atlanta, Georgia – May 12, 2023 – ToonFest: Birthday Bash, an in-person festival put on by Toontown Rewritten for fans of the game, will feature a special virtual panel to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Disney's Toontown Online with some of the game industry veterans who built Disney's award-winning MMO. The panel, titled "Behind the Tooniverse: 20 Years of Toontown," will feature a talk about the origins of Toontown Online by CEO of Schell Games and former Imagineer, Jesse Schell, along with a roundtable discussion with a group of game developers who brought the beloved game to life:

• Mike Goslin, Disney Online Vice President (2000-2009)

• Gyedo Jeon, Senior Programmer (2007-2013)

• Bridget Konopka, Associate Art Director (2003-2013)

• Shawn Patton, Design Director (2002, 2008-2009)

• Jesse Schell, Creative Director (2000-2005, 2008-2009)

• Joe Shochet, Creative Director (2003-2009)

• Ellen Steuer, Community Manager & Producer (2003-2008)

• Regine Weiner, Community Support Lead (2003-2006)

The panel will be broadcasted online and in-person on Thursday, May 25, at 8:30 PM EST at MomoCon in Atlanta, GA. Joey Ziolkowski, Creative Director of Toontown Rewritten, expressed excitement about the event and said, "This year marks a unique milestone where Toontown Rewritten has been running as long as Toontown Online was before it closed. We're honored and humbled that so many of these esteemed developers are still invested in the Toontown community, and we can't wait to mark this special occasion by hearing from the team who made all of it possible." ToonFest: Birthday Bash runs from May 25-28 and is expecting hundreds of Toontown fans from around the world to attend. The event also features Toontown contests, character meet-and-greets, free game merchandise, behind-the-scenes panels, and a whole lot more "Toontastic" fun at their 4000-square-foot booth in the Gaming Hall of MomoCon in Atlanta, GA. More information about ToonFest: Birthday Bash can be found at toon.town/toonfest. To learn more about MomoCon and to purchase tickets, please visit momocon.com.