Buckle your seat belts
Have you ever thought that $60 for a new video game was too expensive? How about purchases up to $6m?
lucrative market for anyone that has just the right item to tempt a willing spender
It’s a digital world nowadays and video games are at the center of that. While they can be a relaxing retreat from the pressure and emotions of the real world, they can also be a lucrative market for anyone that has just the right item to tempt a willing spender.
So if you felt bad about splurging on a new gaming PC for Christmas or picking up a new custom controller, know that you aren’t alone. Here are the five most expensive in-game video game purchases ever.
Ranking the most expensive video game purchases
#5: The Moon — Entropia Universe
Are you a big fan of the 1946 holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life? How about the Jim Carrey knee-slapper Bruce Almighty?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you’ll know about the protagonist’s desire to capture the moon (and oddly, both by lassoing it). Perhaps you don’t have the supernatural abilities to actually obtain the moon, but one Entropia Universe player did for a humble price of $150,000.
Entropia is a massively multiplayer online game in which players can travel back and forth to new planets, make friends, and carry out a variety of tasks. It hinges on a micro-payment system that allows players to purchase skills, items, and services, one of which is evidently the moon.
Spoiler alert: this won’t be the first time that Entropia appears on this list, proving once and for all that the moon might not be that valuable after all (depending on your budget).
#4: Crystal Palace — Entropia Universe
Would you look at that, we held our promise that Entropia would reappear even faster than you thought.
roughly the price of a Rolls-Royce Wraith
This purchase was for a virtual space station and popular travel destination for the game’s players that went for a whopping $333,000. That’s roughly the price of a Rolls-Royce Wraith, a four-bedroom house in Chicago, Illinois, or 30 first-class plane tickets from Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia.
Although it doesn’t cost anywhere near that amount to visit the Crystal Palace, it will cost players $1 per visit. That $333,000 investment won’t fund itself, after all.
#3: Blue Gem Weapon Skin and Knife — CS:GO
The third-most expensive in-game purchase in video game history only just made its $500,000 sale recently. $400,000 of the sale went towards the AK-47 Case Hardened “Blue Gem” weapon skin and the rest went to a Karambit Case Hardened “Blue Gem” knife skin.
CS:GO stands for “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and although the half-a-million-dollar price tag might be at least mildly offensive, the new owner now possesses arguably the most desirable loadout in a game that draws over 1.3 million concurrent players at its peak in 2023.
To top it off, the skin has four Katowice 2014 Titan Holo stickers on it, each worth $60,000. Someone offered to pay $1.5m for the knife in 2021 when it was brand-new, but the value fell now that it is well-worn.
#2: Club Neverdie — Entropia Universe
Everyone’s favorite “micro”-transaction game Entropia is back for the two-spot on our list of the most expensive in-game video game purchases ever with Club Neverdie, a hot spot for gamers to go relax and engage with one another.
made out like a bandit when he sold it for $635,000 some years later
The founder of the club was John “NEVERDIE” Jacobs, who paid roughly $100,000 for it in 2005. He even took out a mortgage on his own house to afford the purchase, but made out like a bandit when he sold it for $635,000 some years later.
Jacobs supposedly recouped all of the money on his investment by taxing the club’s 20 biodomes, 66 shops, and 1000 apartments. That place must have quite the nightlife.
#1: Planet Calypso — Entropia Universe
What if I told you that the biggest in-game purchase in video game history was nearly four times higher than the previous four purchases on this list combined? Would you believe it?
To all of the believers, your faith has been restored because Entropia’s Planet Calypso sold for an astonishing SIX MILLION DOLLARS! The deal was negotiated between SEE Virtual Worlds LLC, an online entertainment service, and the game’s developer, MindArk.
over $400m in annual user-to-user transactions
The planet was churning over $400m in annual user-to-user transactions back in 2011. The player base is estimated to be only a bit over 100,000, but no matter the longevity of the planet, it will be remembered as the most lucrative in-game video game acquisition ever.