Can my child still play School of Dragons today?

No. The game's developer, JumpStart, officially closed all game servers on June 30, 2023. The app is no longer available in app stores and cannot connect to any live services.

What kind of game was School of Dragons when it was live?

It was a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game (MMO) where players created a Viking, raised dragon hatchlings, completed quests around Berk, and learned basic science concepts through mini-games.

What are the best safe alternatives for How to Train Your Dragon fans?

For console and PC players, offline titles like DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders or DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms offer dragon-flying adventure without online chat risks or microtransactions.

Why did School of Dragons shut down?

JumpStart, the parent company owned by NetDragon, ceased operations across several legacy online titles in mid-2023 due to restructuring and the shifting costs of maintaining live online servers.

School of Dragons – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

School of Dragons

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

game2013Role-playing (RPG), Adventure

40%

WISE Score

58%

IGDB

A fan-favorite How to Train Your Dragon MMO that let kids hatch dragon eggs—permanently offline as of June 2023.

School of Dragons

game

2013, Role-playing (RPG), Adventure

40%

WISE Score

58%

IGDB

A fan-favorite How to Train Your Dragon MMO that let kids hatch dragon eggs—permanently offline as of June 2023.

Jump to

Also rated on

IGDB58

View →

Where to Play

Google Play

PC/Steam

App Store

Screenwise Verdict

For a decade, School of Dragons gave How to Train Your Dragon fans a solid browser and mobile RPG where they could raise, customize, and fly their own dragons. It sneaked basic scientific experiments into the Viking gameplay and hit a sweet spot for middle-grade gamers looking for fantasy sandbox play.

Here is the catch: the game was permanently shut down on June 30, 2023. The servers are offline, app stores removed it, and nobody can log in anymore. If your kid finds old Let's Play videos on YouTube and asks to download it, steer them toward standalone offline games like Dragons: Dawn of New Riders instead.

Age Fit

Aimed at kids ages 8–12 back when it was active, but since the servers closed in June 2023, it is strictly a legacy title you can no longer play.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Centered around dragon bonding, cooperation, and gentle Viking adventure from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

Imaginative

Allowed players to raise, train, and customize their own dragon species while exploring a open-world fantasy setting.

Safe

Historically suffered from patchy online chat moderation, frequent glitches, and heavy microtransaction pressure. Furthermore, servers were permanently shut down on June 30, 2023.

Enriching

Integrated basic STEM and scientific method concepts into quests, alongside reading-heavy objectives.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Deep franchise immersion allowed kids to hatch, raise, and fly iconic dragon species alongside Toothless and Hiccup.
Disguised science lessons mixed basic scientific inquiry and chemistry experiments into Viking quests.
Dragon customization gave players a genuine sense of ownership over their virtual hatchlings.

⚠

What to Watch For

The game is completely unplayable: JumpStart officially turned off the servers on June 30, 2023, so you cannot log in or play today.
Legacy chat and glitch complaints: Before closing, parents frequently flagged toxic open chat, buggy updates, and aggressive membership paywalls.

Conversation Starters

"If you could hatch any dragon from Berk, which species would you pick?"
"Why do you think so many online games eventually shut down their servers?"
"What makes a good dragon-riding game compared to just watching the movies?"

Deep Dive

The End of Berk's Virtual MMO

When JumpStart launched School of Dragons in 2013, it captured the magic of DreamWorks' franchise better than most licensed games of its era. Players created a Viking avatar, visited the Isle of Berk, hatched eggs, and completed quests that quietly built basic STEM reading skills. For kids who had outgrown basic web games but were not ready for complex PC titles, it was a cozy virtual hangout.

However, running an active MMORPG requires constant server upkeep, moderation, and technical fixes. In its final years, the title struggled with technical bugs, aggressive subscription prompts, and patchy chat moderation that drew complaints from parents.

When JumpStart shuttered operations in mid-2023, the lights went out on Berk for good. It serves as a classic example of the ephemeral nature of live-service kids' games—once the servers go dark, the experience exists only in gameplay archives.

What Parents Ask

Ask Anything

Get a personalized guide on any topic

Related Guides

From Viking Berk to the Modern World: A Parent’s Guide to the Dragon Franchise

Navigate the movies, the 2026 live-action remake, and spin-offs while discussing disability, empathy, and finding your own flight path.

How to Train Your Dragon: The 2026 Live-Action Parent Guide

From 'hyper-real' dragons to lessons on empathy and disability, here is what to expect from the jump to the new live-action Isle of Berk.

Writing about School of Dragons? Put this WISE score on your site