Entropia Universe is a massively multiplayer online game set across a science-fiction universe of multiple planets, each with its own ecosystem, lore and player base. The game is built entirely around a living, player-driven economy in which every role feeds into one another. The hunters who slay creatures across planets generate loot that crafters need; the crafters then produce equipment that miners and mercenaries need, and the traders move goods between players and planets, and investors who own land and collect taxes on all of it.
The transactions that followed in the games’ early years made headlines around the world:
- In 2004 a virtual island sold at auction for $26,500, earning Entropia Universe its first Guinness World Record.
- The following year, an English actor named Jon Jacobs mortgaged his home to buy a virtual asteroid space resort for $100,000, built it into a nightclub and stadium, and recouped his entire investment within eight months through in-game revenue alone. He then sold the property off in portions over the following five years, with the total across all sales reaching $635,000
- A virtual space station exchanged hands in 2009 for $330,000
- Five virtual banking licences were auctioned in-game for a combined total of $404,000.
The BBC reported on it, as did The New York Times, Forbes and The Guardian, and annual player transactions in Entropia Universe now exceed $450 million.
Where is Entropia Universe Today?
Now, after more than two decades on the same engine, MindArk is migrating Entropia Universe to Unreal Engine 5. This will include rebuilding the core gameplay systems, building a new distributed backend designed to scale, and more. In a development update earlier this year, MindArk confirmed that the existing game worlds have already been successfully imported into the Unreal Engine client, with the team describing seeing familiar locations come to life in the new engine as exciting.
A redesigned starting world called Setesh launched in 2025 as a testing ground for new players and new systems, and both the current and new clients will run in parallel throughout the transition, ensuring that every item and every penny of value players currently hold carries across in full. Alongside Odyssey, MindArk has introduced CelestAI, an AI system that brings the game's economic data together into one place, allowing the team to model how changes will affect the player economy before they go live rather than after.
There is a lot more to come with Entropia Universe, with more changes and developments in the works.
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.