Bigpoint nets €2 million from virtual drone

Leading free-to-play online developer Bigpoint has generated €2 million in revenue from a single virtual item.

The item in question is a high-ranked combat drone (the "Zeus Drone") for the company's popular MMO DarkOrbit. The item went on sale for €1,000 on four separate days this month, and more than 2000 of DarkOrbit's 65 million registered players bought one.

Bigpoint confirmed the figures to GamesBrief, and estimated that its total revenue from virtual goods this year would hit €200 million.

"Originally, CEO Heiko Hubertz told me that the company had sold 1000 [Zeus] drones," said Nicholas Lovell, who operates the GamesBrief blog.

"He then introduced me to the producer of the game, Simon Davis, to explain how DarkOrbit worked. Simon told me that he had been authorised to say that the company has now sold 2000, as at 16th November 2011."