Forbes magazine published an interview with 35-year-old American programmer Yan Panasjuk, who bought the majority of the Neverdie space resort in the Entropia Universe , including seven bioscams, a stadium, a nightclub and a shopping center. This purchase is recognized as the largest virtual real estate transaction in the history of computer games.
Why did a Soviet emigrant from Boston put such big money into such an ephemeral thing as virtual real estate? This is what Jan responded to in a Forbes online interview. “When the cinema was invented, many critics said that nothing new would come of this novelty and it would not be able to bring any serious money after it lost its novelty effect.The last time I checked, Avatar brought $ 2.7 billion in global fees.The most recent example is MTV and the Internet, but these stories are well known to you.The virtual universe is the next logical step in the global entertainment industry, and although there are many critics and doubters, it will remain here for a long time and take its place among the first. ” ')
Of course, there is also a banal financial calculation. The resort is located on the asteroid Mineral Rich Paradise V near the largest planet in the universe Callipso. This is a very profitable place. There is a paid berth for space ships (teleporting to an asteroid is impossible), hotels with paid numbers, a supermarket for 100 trading places (they are leased), a large stadium, a nightclub and an amphitheater. All this brings a steady income. The resort brought to its past owner about $ 200 thousand a year.
In addition, the asteroid itself is rich in mineral deposits, so that the owner can rent out certain plots for hunting and mining.
The asteroid was discovered by colonists in 2005 and was auctioned off in the same year. The winner in the auction was John Neverdie Jacobs, who paid for the promising property of 1 million PED (Project Entropia Dollars), that is, $ 100 thousand. John Jacobs built up an asteroid with real estate and named the resort in his honor. Now it will be renamed.
Jacobs left himself some of the asteroid, and the rest sold to the new owner. It should be noted that Panasyuk is not a novice and knows how to profitably place money. He has been playing Entropia for 10-20 hours a week for about ten years. In the virtual world, he is known under the pseudonym John Foma Kaloun. Now Panasyuk expects to increase playing time up to 40-60 hours a week, because business requires close attention.