It was hard to find out who controls Calypso, and that’s a problem.

First off, let me start by saying that this post will not be nearly as lengthy as the last one. I will be writing some long posts in the future, sure. But not this one J

Anyway, this post is a brief follow-up to my last post, Let’s Start With Calypso. I wanted to point something out that I feel I omitted in that post, but is important for all of my readers to know:

So that everyone knows: MindArk has, as of 2012, taken direct control over Calypso.

I know this seems like a simple thing but believe it or not, it was very hard for me to find out. There is no clear indication of who the Planet Partner for Calypso is, well… anywhere. I ended up finding it (almost by luck) on some half-buried wiki in EntropiaPlanets.

From what I can gather, MindArk ended their partnership with SEE Visual Studios for no clearly published reason shortly after a deal was proposed for SEE to purchase and seize control of plane Calypso. SEE was also supposed to develop two other planets in the Universe, one of which being a Universal Studios themed planet, and the other themed after Michael Jackson (seems strange, doesn’t it?). Anyway, MindArk has been desperate to sell off Calypso for some time now, because the sale of Calypso will bring a new life to their primary source of income, which is the bank that MindArk owns in real life. It seems that Calypso has been bleeding money for some time now, and MindArk, in a panic, wanted to sell it to a Planet Partner in order to reinvest back into the (possible proposed?) bank and game, thus reinvigorating the Universe as a whole.

The sheer magnitude of how bad the planet was hurting can be seen in this quote taken from the Wikipedia Page for Entropia Universe: 

• June 15, 2010 - Parent company MindArk AB released its 2009 annual report, showing a cash flow of -18.6 Million SEK (-$2.4M), and stating that the real-world bank is on hold, due to a lack of funds. MindArk also stated they had a signed letter of intent to sell their original virtual planet, Planet Calypso, for a price of $6,000,000 USD, to an unnamed company,^[20] later announced to be SEE Virtual Worlds, already a partner. SEE intended to release at least two planets in the Entropia Universe: (Planet Michael, a virtual world celebrating the life of Michael Jackson, and a second planet featuring monsters from Universal.^[21]) However, in June 2011, MindArk released a statement announcing the end of their partnership with SEE altogether.

Interestingly enough, when I went to go verify the quote, the link for citation was dead. hmmm. Ever since that point, Calypso stagnated. despite the fact that calypso does currently have a team running it, it seems as though this team is either poorly funded or poorly motivated (likely both) under the weight of knowing that Calypso is still, in reality, for sale.

So what does this mean for us? Well, the lack of a good Planet Partner and MindArk’s unwillingness to dump more money into Calypso is likely a good citation for them rarely updating the game in a positive way. However, it also means that we have a real opportunity to strike up some change. If we start with Planet Calypso, we are going right to the heart of the problem and bypassing all the Planet Partners.

That’s what I want. I want to see MindArk – not a Planet Partner – make a move towards a new way of thinking about the Universe; a way of thinking that will revolve around polishing the dozens of rough Diamonds MindArk has in their jar. After all, although the planet partners are responsible for content and concept, MindArk is responsible for platform development. So, MindArk – develop your platform.

To clarify, Calypso is currently run by Planet Calypso AB, a subsidiary of MindArk. This subsidiary has an independent CEO and therefore, there is technically a "Planet Partner" that id controlled by MindArk. However, as stated before, they are likely poorly motivated and poorly funded. Calypso is for sale - PLanet Calypso AB seems as though it designed to be temporary.

(What’s worse is we can’t tell who’s running Next Island at all – but that’s for another blog)

Over the next few days I will be attempting to dig around and find an email address for MindArk directly. If I can find one, I will be planning a letter-writing campaign of some kind. I hope you all will join me on that.

Good luck everyone,

-Faucon Ioji VanAlkel