The Walt Disney Internet Group has revealed that it intends to hire a team by August to manage its Club Penguin operations in Sydney in response to the kid-targeted virtual world's popularity in Australia, according to a report from Australian news site News.com.au.

Though Club Penguin hasn't yet been incorporated to Disney's gaming site for Australia, user numbers on Disney.com.au have doubled to 800,000 since traditional online games based on Disney animated movies and characters were added last year. The company expects that Club Penguin's popularity in Australia, even without Disney.com.au's backing, will continue to surge.

Said Duncan Orrell-Jones, head of the Walt Disney Internet Group for Asia Pacific: "Gaming is a very important aspect of our audience's experience online and in Australia the game activity online is quite strong. In short, what we have is an entertainment destination... and within that we'll be distributing the sort of deeper, richer experiences of virtual worlds."