Development on "Earth Eternal" began 2006, but would not be announced until January 10, 2007. CEO and Founder of Iron Realms Entertainment (IRE) Matt Mihaly, announced the founding of a sister company of IRE, called Sparkplay Media, with the intention of creating a free MMORPG with the ability to be played through a web browser. Additionally, "Earth Eternal’s" system would be entirely microtransaction based, which had just begun to be accepted in the West. Mihaly would leave as CEO of IRE to become CEO of Sparkplay Media. "Earth Eternal" was initially scheduled for release in the summer of 2007, however, as a result of a substantial increase in funding $4 million from Redpoint Ventures and Prism Ventureworks its release was changed to sometime in 2009.