Co-founder of eGenesis video games buys another 21 acres on Big Island

Pennsylvania native Andrew Tepper, co-founder of video game developer eGenesis, recently purchased 21 acres of land in Kealakekua, adding to his Big Island real estate footprint that spans more than 15,000 acres.

The property is zoned for agricultural use and includes a lychee tree orchard that needed care.

“I don’t have many plans, but I am working on getting the lychee orchard back up and running,” Tepper told Big Island Now on Friday. “We are working to fertilize the trees and do everything necessary to get the orchard nice and healthy.”

Since 2021, Tepper, who spends about two months a year on the Big Island, has purchased at least $35.1 million on Hawaiʻi Island properties.

He said he plans to continue to host the controversial “Falls on Fire” festival on the same 14.7-acre portion of a larger 1,419-acre property in Pāpaʻikou that he bought when?

The “Falls on Fire” he hosted in 2023 and 2024 received some backlash. An investigation by the County of Hawaiʻi Planning Department found that Teppy Mountain LLC violated permitting laws and fined the company $34,000.

Main complaints have come from residents in Pāpaʻikou and surrounding areas who were frustrated by the burning of a large wooden effigy, attendees driving on the private gravel road, loud music for three nights, and the fact that Tepper did not apply for a special use permit for the land zoned for agriculture.

Teppy Mountain LLC applied for a special use permit in 2025, and in November 2025, the Windward Planning Commission held contested case proceedings in Hilo to allow testifiers to voice their support or opposition for the decision to approve or deny the permit.

For the planned 2026 “Falls on Fire” festival, Tepper said: “I am just waiting for them to schedule another hearing for the special use permit. All I’m truly asking for is to use 1% of that land parcel, 1% of the time each year for a leave-no-trace event.”  

Last year, Tepper made his largest purchase to date on the Big Island: a 792-acre Kūpaianaha Ranch for $10.59 million. The ranch, near Hilo Forest Reserve, has waterfalls, orchards, pastureland and a two-story, 8,542-square-foot log cabin.

In 2025, Tepper also purchased two agriculture-zoned properties, just over one acre each, that also are in Kealakekua. One property included plans for a luxury home build-out, according to public records. And he bought a third parcel of 21.46 acres for $2 million. That land is also zoned for agricultural use.

“I think I’ll be back to the island in May to see the lychee tree, maybe swim in some waterfalls,” Tepper said. “Hopefully, that will also be when the next hearing is scheduled.”

In the past five years, Tepper has acquired more land on Hawaiʻi Island than major landowners Marc Benioff, CEO and co-founder of Salesforce, and Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies.

Dell recently purchased 491 acres of land on Hawaiʻi Island last August. The purchase involved land on the Kona coastline underneath the Four Seasons Hualālai Resort and golf course. Dell already owned the resort, but the land on which it sat was previously leased from Kamehameha Schools.

Benioff has property on Big Island that totals more than 600 acres, with about 580 acres located in Waimea. According to prior reporting in Fortune, the Benioffs have donated more than 90% of the land they have purchased since 2020, including 282 acres to the Hawaiʻi Island Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing.

Aside from the “Falls on Fire” festival, it’s unclear exactly what Tepper plans to do with the combined 15,000 acres. He said the latest land acquisitions are investments and for potential agriculture projects.

“I just really enjoy beautiful, agricultural land,” Tepper said. “That’s about it.”