News

Virtual game pays players real cash via ATM cards

May 4, 2006

Ottawa Citizen:Is your current job not doing enough to pay the bills? How does mining on an asteroid sound? Or hunting beasts on another planet? Those are just some of the potentially money-making opportunities offered in Entropia Universe, a popular online science-fiction game that lets its players dive into ventures with the possibility of filling their bank accounts with real money. ATM cards will allow players to withdraw real cash made from deals in virtual reality. Introduction of the cards was announced earlier this week by the Sweden-based company that runs the game. The company estimated the game, which has about 250,000 players, saw a turnover of U.S. $165 million in 2005 alone - money that could now be handed out at an ATM.