Wha? EA Selling Virtual Car for $100 in NFS World
Selling a virtual sports car for $100 is mere child's play compared to the million-dollar transactions that take place within the MMOG Entropia Universe.
On Wednesday EA introduced the Koenigsegg CCX "Elite" Edition, a virtual sports car that can be purchased within the free-to-play MMOG, Need For Speed World. According to the company, it's the game's first "premium elite" car, and will cost virtual drivers a meaty $100 in real-world cash to own. Guess that's cheaper than owning the real thing, right? Probably safer, too.
"Gamers will notice a few firsts in NFS World, when they feast their eyes on the stenciled logos on the front windshield and also the burnt titanium exhaust tips!" EA writes in a blog. "The detail doesn’t stop there as the interior has been treated to a matching swatch of the exterior, with blue seats and yellow stripe."
"The exclusive custom carbon fiber widebody kit was designed to allow for a widened track, which allows for better overall traction," EA adds. "The front fascia has been radically restyled with a mid-wing mounted in the front bumper. The roofline has also been modified to incorporate two massive roof scoops, feeding air to its hungry engine. A new massive carbon rear wing has been mounted directly to the chassis and is a one-off piece specific to not only this car, but this particular kit."
As of Thursday, Need For Speed World had signed on more than 5 million users. Given the game's free-to-play model, EA is looking to make cash on in-game transactions like the current sale of its "premium elite" car. Gamers who don't have $100 to dump into a virtual set of wheels can actually purchase the car for $75 in a clearance sale that ends on Wednesday, December 21.
Still, think $75 is steep for a virtual item? That's mere pennies compared to some of the virtual real estate that is bought and sold for cash in Entropia Universe. Back in April one piece of property -- an Asteroid Space Resort to be more specific -- sold for $6 million USD, setting a new world record. Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs originally bought the property back in 2005 for a meager $100K USD which in itself set a new record. Six years later, he was $5.9M richer and didn't really purchase or sell anything physical.
As far as we know, Need For Speed World won't sell anything quite so expensive, but both the $100 automobile and the $6M virtual resort only goes to show that the free-to-play model does in fact work, and that PC gamers are willing to shell out insane amounts of money to support their gaming habit.
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richboyliang So does this car drive any faster or make me race any better? That's all I care aboutReply -
thepetey sheath"he was $5.9K richer"Dude raked it in, he made $5,900! lolReply
Thats a typo, they said it sold for 6M which means he made $5.9 Million... that's pretty sweet profits. -
bak0n I own Gran Turismo 5. I don't need another racing game. Especially one put out by EA. They lost favor with me when I bought a game from their site they no longer support online.Reply -
sonofliberty08 EA killing all the fans of C&C, Simcity, The Sims since the ruin the original developer West Wood, Maxis......Reply -
valu3hunt3r Wonder if it's possible to do that in Minecraft (make something and sell it), hmm...Reply