In 2017, a player known as Solo Roudrunner Firstborn had an idea where he wanted to get the people he played with every day into the same room, sitting side by side and playing together the way LAN gaming was always meant to be. Nine years later, that first gathering has grown into EntropiaLAN, the largest community-organised event in the history of Entropia Universe, and on the 27th of March, 2026, it returned to Gothenburg for its ninth edition.
EntropiaLAN 2026 ran from the 27th of March to the 29th of March at the Scandic Centralen hotel in central Gothenburg, bringing together 60 players, content creators and community members from all over the world. Entropia Universe is not your typical MMO as it runs on a real-cash economy, meaning the currency players earn and spend in-game carries actual monetary value, and that changes the way people relate to each other. Partnerships form, trades carry real stakes, and the friendships that develop tend to stick around.
EntropiaLAN is the one weekend a year where those people get to be in the same place at the same time, gaming together with the people they have spent years getting to know online.
The LAN was built around the things Entropia players love doing together, with hunting competitions running throughout for PED card prizes and collectible figurines; treasure hunts where the reward was exclusive LAN armour you could not get anywhere else, boss mob fights that had the whole room locked in, and genuine in-person relationship building. MindArk was there in person to present the future of the game, as well as economy balances and information from Streamers Connected about the community events and collaboration coming to the game over the next 12-months.
One of the best additions this year was something called The 10 Noobs, where existing players could bring along a friend who had never tried Entropia before. Those newcomers got free entry and a starter pack from MindArk, and Solo put up his own VR headset as a giveaway for one of them. It is a small thing on paper, but it says a lot about how this community thinks by celebrating what they have built and making room for new people to be part of it.
As the laptops and PCs were packed away and people started saying their goodbyes, the talk had already turned to next year. With Entropia Universe in the middle of its transition to Unreal Engine 5, the game is heading into a new era, and the community that showed up in Gothenburg, as well as the wider community, will be the ones shaping what that looks like. What started as one player booking a venue and hoping for the best has become something the whole community looks forward to each year, and with plans already underway for the next edition and early discussions about taking EntropiaLAN on tour to new cities, Gothenburg might just be the beginning.
For more information about Entropia Universe or to stay updated on future developments, visit the official website, Steam page or join the Entropia Universe Discord.
About MindArk
MindArk PE AB (publ) (“the Company” or “MindArk”) develops and operates Entropia Universe, the world's first MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) with a “Real-Cash-Economy”, and Entropia Platform. Entropia Universe is a virtual universe consisting of a number of planets with different themes and activities. The software is provided globally and free of charge with the possibility to spend money in the virtual universe for anyone with access to a PC and the internet. Entropia Universe consists of a digital economy where resources, materials, land, and buildings are represented as digital assets with an underlying base value. Entropia Platform is the technology platform that powers Entropia Universe. The platform is shared with partners who develop their own unique game content for their planets in Entropia Universe.