We’re excited to share an updateon where Upland is headed, and just as importantly, where we’ve been. This past quarter marked a period of meaningful progress, with new game mechanics introduced, foundational systemsimproved, and a sharpened focus on what makes Upland unique.

As we move into the next phase of development, our attention is centered around two major themes: doubling down on Upland’s core and optimization. That means enhancing the systems and features that players already know and love, while also making the tough, but necessary, decision to sunset elements that haven’t gained traction.

This is about streamlining, refining, and evolving Upland with a clear eye on the future, while staying true to the platform’s foundation: property ownership, trading, and building value in a vibrant, player-driven economy.

Q1 Recap: What We’ve Accomplished

We’ve made meaningful progress this past quarter, with updates that not only enhance gameplay but also expand Upland’s reach and technical foundation, all while reinforcing our core focus on property ownership, trading, and economic opportunity.

Here are some of the key highlights:

Continuing Progress on Q1 Roadmap Items

While we’ve made strong strides this quarter, there are several features from our original Q1 roadmap that are still actively in development. These items remain important to our vision and are progressing behind the scenes. They touch on quality-of-life improvements, expanded functionality, and deeper engagement with Upland’s ecosystem:

Features still in progress:

Deprioritized Features

To stay focused on what matters most, a few items have been deprioritized. This doesn’t mean they’re off the table forever, but they’ve been paused for now as we double down on core systems and features that offer the most immediate value:

Updated Features

Some features have evolved based on development insights and community feedback. Rather than being delivered exactly as first envisioned, they’ve taken a new form within the roadmap:

These updates reflect our commitment to refining core gameplay, expanding accessibility, and laying the groundwork for what’s next, setting a strong foundation as we move forward into the rest of the year.

Q2 Roadmap

As we look beyond Q1, it’s important to remember that many of the features we’ve shared, both in this update and in previous roadmaps, are part of a continuous rollout. As we mentioned before, timelines will vary based on team capacity, and not all items will be completed within the current quarter.

However, each represents a key area of focus that we’re actively working on, with progress happening behind the scenes.

These initiatives remain central to the ongoing evolution of Upland, all while reinforcing our core vision of a dynamic, player-driven economybuilt onvirtual property ownership and trading. We’ll continue to develop and release these features as they’re ready, always keeping property at the heart of the experience.

New Development

This section highlights brand-new features and mechanics that are being introduced to expand and evolve the Upland experience:

Next Steps in Progressive Decentralization

We’re excited to announce that Upland is taking a significant step toward a future where our community plays a bigger role in shaping the platform.

In the coming months, we’ll be rolling out changes that enhance efficiency and independence, while opening the door for you to have a greater say in Upland’s key decisions. This next phase will bring new opportunities for involvement and collaboration, and we can’t wait to see how it strengthens the Upland experience.

While we’re not ready to share the details just yet, we want you to know that big things are in motion, so stay tuned, and get ready to help shape what’s next for Upland.

Life, Totems and Protem

After two successful seasons of Totems, we’re excited to roll out the remaining seasons and even more thrilled to introduce Life in Upland, a vibrant new layer of gameplay that brings growth, care, and living elements into the metaverse!

This upcoming feature will introduce a curated selection of ornamental trees, flowers, and shrubs to the world of Upland. Players will be able to trade the seeds for these plants, but once planted, the living elements themselves will become non-tradable. They’ll grow and evolve over time, but only with proper care. Neglect them, and they may wither away.

Protem (eventually Stem) will be at the core of Upland’s upcoming Life system, playing a critical role in nurturing and sustaining these new living elements. At launch, care for plants will be directly tied to Protem, with additional mechanics introduced over time to expand how Life evolves across the platform.

The first major step in this evolution will be the introduction of a new Metaventure type: Nurseries.

Open to all players, Nurseries will serve as hubs for buying and selling seed Legits on the secondary market. However, additional utility will be unlocked for players who place one of the 5,555 Totems on a Nursery property.

These Totem-enabled Nurseries will allow visiting players to spend $SPARKLET in exchange for a random seed Legit, with compensation going to the property owner. This marks the first time we’re implementing a $SPARKLET spend mechanic to create Legits, as outlined in the white paper, an exciting milestone in bringing Upland’s token utility vision to life!

Because Totems are limited, this spend mechanic will be exclusive to a select number of Nurseries, creating scarcity and rewarding those who own and activate Totems strategically.

Seed types will vary in rarity and availability based on location. For example, Palm Trees may be exclusive to Nurseries in cities like Miami and Los Angeles, while Pine Trees could be found only in Lake Tahoe or Park City. This adds a unique geographical layer to plant discovery and trade, enhancing the connection between Life and the Upland map.

Players will be able to burn the seed Legit to plant it on their property, then care for it as it grows and evolves, bringing vibrant, living elements to their land and adding a whole new dimension to property ownership.

We’ll also be launching the remaining Totem seasons, with Totems continuing to provide value well beyond this initial rollout. Stay tuned as the living world of Upland begins to bloom.

User-Manufactured Cars

As revealed with the Stock Car Historic cars announcement, players will have the ability, for the first time in Upland, to manufacture ‘Competition’-grade cars in accordance with the Historic Stock Car replica that they own.

Stay tuned for more details!

Quality of Life

These updates are all about improving usability, performance, and player experience, small tweaks that make a big difference in how you interact with Upland.

Simple Travel

Upland’s commitment to immersion and virtual localities is a key factor in creating a rich, engaging experience where your location, residence, and neighbors truly matter.

Our comprehensive travel system reflects this dedication, but we recognize that navigating from point A to point B can sometimes feel complex. That’s why we’re excited to introduce “Simple Travel,” a streamlined feature designed to make movement effortless.

It’s as straightforward as it sounds: simply click on any property, hit the “Travel” button, and let the platform handle all the route calculations for you!

Once you pay the UPX fees, you’re on your way via an automated, hassle-free journey. Rest assured, travel times and terminal send fees will remain unchanged, preserving the balance of the system while enhancing your experience.

In-App Announcement History

With so much happening in Upland, it can be easy to miss a pop-up or important update. To help keep everyone in the loop, we’re introducing an in-app history interface where players can view all the latest announcements in one convenient place. Never miss an update again!

Enhanced Secondary Market Access

We’re excited to roll out a trial of new mechanics designed to boost flexibility and economic activity in Upland’s secondary markets.

With these updates, players will be able to acquire items from metaventures on the secondary market without needing to be virtually present near the metaventure property.

During this trial period, players will be able to purchase items from any Metaventure in a given city, as long as they own at least one property in that same city. This removes the need to be virtually nearby, while still maintaining a meaningful connection to location.

Following the trial, we’ll assess the results and explore potential refinements, possibly introducing additional conditions to optimize this feature. These changes aim to empower secondary markets, streamline transactions, and drive greater economic engagement across the Upland ecosystem. Importantly, this trial does not replace or diminish our long-term vision for transportation in Upland. Instead, it serves as a valuable test case that will help us better understand how to balance accessibility with strategic movement across the map.

Treasure Hunt Updates

Treasure hunting has long been a fan-favorite activity in Upland, and we’re focused on making it more competitive than ever. Upcoming updates will introduce changes to how arrows function, along with new security measures to ensure fair play and prevent exploitation.

Treasure hunting will once again demand real skill, persistence, and strategic thinking to master.

Once these changes are live, we plan to launch regular treasure hunting contests during each season, giving both hardcore and casual players the chance to showcase their abilities and climb the leaderboard.

Upgraded Scavenger Hunts

Another fan-favorite feature making its return is Scavenger Hunts, and they’re coming back better than ever!

A revised version of the game mode will debut this Blossom Season as the featured “new mechanic” event, with improved gameplay and more frequent opportunities to participate.

These hunts will center around properties, structures, and elements of the Upland map, rewarding players who bring sharp observation and quick decision-making to the challenge. Scavenger Hunts will also run on a regular seasonal cadence, offering a fresh way to compete, explore, and win throughout Upland.

Seasonal Racing

We’re nearing the finish line of our first full year of Championship Series Racing, and it’s been an incredible ride! Following the Genesis Week Finals, we’ll be making key adjustments to how racing seasons are structured, shifting toward shorter, more engaging formats that keep the competition fresh and exciting.

Scoring for the Championship Series will also be refined, ensuring it continues to spotlight the very best racers and delivers an even more rewarding competitive experience.

New Types of Kart Racing Objects

After the initial launch of Traps for Kart Racing, expect to see more types of objects appearing on tracks. Some of them you’d want to avoid, while others will be worth collecting!

Miscellaneous

Here you’ll find a collection of updates and notes that don’t fall neatly into other categories but are still important to share with the community.

Reviewing Legacy Features

As part of our commitment to refining Upland and focusing on what delivers real value to players, we’re taking a closer look at some legacy features that may no longer align with that mission. These features, while ambitious, require ongoing attention and resources that could be redirected toward more impactful experiences. Initially, this review will include the Activity Feed, 3D Spaces, and the Director Block Explorer.

Take 3D Spaces, for example: we continue to believe they’ll play a significant role in Upland’s future. However, current participation is low, which may be a result of being a step ahead of both player behavior and available technology.

As part of this review, we’ll be exploring alternative technologies and approaches that could better support the long-term vision for 3D Spaces. In the meantime, 3D Spaces may be temporarily paused to allow for a more focused evaluation and thoughtful planning for what comes next.

We’d love to hear from the community, your feedback is essential in helping us determine which features need a refresh, a rework, or possibly a sunset. Our ultimate goal is to keep Upland optimized, focused, and evolving in a way that best serves its players.

Refining $SPARKLET Sales for a Balanced Ecosystem

Since the introduction of $SPARKLET, Upland has made it available for purchase directly within the app, catering to our diverse community of players. With $SPARKLET’s evolution into a decentralized token, it also became tradable on both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

While we’re committed to empowering the tradable token, in-app $SPARKLET sales remain essential to ensure accessibility for all Uplanders, whether they’re crypto enthusiasts or casual gamers.

To further support the strength of $SPARKLET and align our in-app strategy with market dynamics, we’re introducing the following updates:

These changes underscore our commitment to building a strong, sustainabletoken economy that benefits the entire Upland community.

Aligning Mobile App Pricing with Platform Realities

Upland’s availability on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store is essential for providing a seamless mobile experience and increasing visibility, but it also comes with a cost: significant platform fees on transactions.

To better align with how many digital platforms operate today (similar to premium offerings on platforms like X), Upland is adopting a pricing model that reflects these added costs for in-app purchases.

As a result, you may notice differences in pricing or value between purchases made in the mobile app versus those on the web. For the best value, we encourage Uplanders to compare prices and consider making primary market purchases via the web when possible.

This approach ensures greater transparency while maintaining access and convenience across all platforms.

Staying True to the Core

Every update, adjustment, and feature refinement we’ve outlined reflects a single, unifying goal: to strengthen Upland’s foundation as the world’s leading property trading metaverse.

As we continue to optimize, streamline, and evolve the platform, we remain deeply committed to the core gameplay that started it all; buying, selling, and building value through virtual property ownership.

This focus ensures that every move we make supports a more engaging, accessible, and sustainable experience for both new and longtime Uplanders. Get ready for what’s next, because the future of Upland is rooted in its foundation, and we’re just getting started!