Entropia Universe Auction Sells $210,000 Worth Of Virtual Land

Back in 2004, it seemed like complete madness to spend $26,000 real, hard earned money on an island that only existed in the virtual universe of Project Entropia (now Entropia Universe). However, Deathifier - the guy who bought the 25 km² Treasure Island - recovered his investment in less than a year. And by the end of 2005, another one of Entropia's properties, a virtual space resort, had sold at auction for over $100,000, setting a new record for the most valuable virtual item. And the stakes keep on rising!

Just last month, MindArk collected more than $210,00 from its July 2006 real estate public auction in Entropia Universe. The auction began on July 5 with an opening release of six new land areas full of hunting and mineral rights, and closed late July with total of thirteen properties sold. The various virtual land masses including remote snow covered mountains, riverfront estates, vast rainforests and jungles, lake homes and more sold for a combined $213,784, says MindArk.

Entropia Universe is the only virtual gaming community that actively supports sales of virtual products with actual cash value within its real economy system. The economy offers the user a secure and safe way to make purchases, sales and exchange real-life currency into PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money, at a fixed exchange rate to the US Dollar. PED allows members to invest in personal development and growth through the acquisition of goods, buildings, and land in the virtual universe.

"The success of the recent Entropia real estate public auction marks the beginning of the virtual property boom", says Jan Welter, CEO of MindArk, developer of Entropia Universe. "In 2005, the Entropia Universe turnover (amount of virtual Project Entropia Dollars converted back into real world currency) was estimated at $165,000,000 US dollars. With the massive virtual business development and economic growth seen in this year within the universe, we saw a need for new land openings and opportunities. Therefore, we created fertile and abundant properties for sale in hopes of facilitating business endeavors and continuing the economic prosperity of Entropia Universe."

Just imagine how much money would start flowing, if Blizzard were to adopt a similar policy for openly selling in-game assets...

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)