Virtual online world ‘Planet Michael’ to live in Entropia

The man who made the moonwalk famous will soon be getting a planet of his own.

The Michael Jackson estate has entered a licensing deal with a Los Angeles company that will create an online virtual world based on the King of Pop called “Planet Michael.”

The planet will live inside the Entropia Universe, a so-called “massively multiplayer online” game that has about 100,000 active users and is run by the Swedish company Mind Ark.

The estate will work with game publisher SEE Virtual Worlds to develop the game for release in late 2011. In it, fans will be able to collect and trade virtual Jackson merchandise, and earn credits by performing challenges related to his music and dance moves.

Said John Branca, Jackson’s longtime lawyer and co-executor of his estate: “No artist unified the world like Michael Jackson, so it is fitting that in Planet Michael his fans will be able to join together in such a unique way online.”