diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkIdentity.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkIdentity.cs
index 18428ee9e..ddbdb8065 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkIdentity.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkIdentity.cs
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ public enum Visibility { Default, ForceHidden, ForceShown }
     [HelpURL("https://mirror-networking.gitbook.io/docs/components/network-identity")]
     public sealed class NetworkIdentity : MonoBehaviour
     {
+        [Tooltip("Performance optimization for passive objects like Npcs, ItemDrops, Trees, Structures etc. skip broadcasting.\nPassive objects only spawn and despawn, their state isn't synced.\nThis can make a huge performance difference for large worlds with lots of passive objects.")]
+        public bool passive = false;
+
         /// <summary>Returns true if running as a client and this object was spawned by a server.</summary>
         //
         // IMPORTANT:
diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkServer.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkServer.cs
index b46f2d572..1a755accb 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkServer.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkServer.cs
@@ -1657,6 +1657,9 @@ static void BroadcastIdentity(
             NetworkWriterPooled ownerWriter,
             NetworkWriterPooled observersWriter)
         {
+            // skip passive identities for performance
+            if (identity.passive) return;
+
             // only serialize if it has any observers
             // TODO only set dirty if has observers? would be easiest.
             if (identity.observers.Count > 0)
diff --git a/Assets/Mirror/Examples/BenchmarkIdle/Npc.cs b/Assets/Mirror/Examples/BenchmarkIdle/Npc.cs
index 7c9bd8d5f..7658c5a47 100644
--- a/Assets/Mirror/Examples/BenchmarkIdle/Npc.cs
+++ b/Assets/Mirror/Examples/BenchmarkIdle/Npc.cs
@@ -26,13 +26,16 @@ public override void OnStartServer()
             // color coding
             // can't do this in update, it's too expensive
             rend.material.color = sleeping ? sleepingColor : activeColor;
+
+            // set passive
+            netIdentity.passive = sleeping;
         }
 
         [ServerCallback]
         void Update()
         {
-            // set dirty if not sleeping.
-            // only counts as dirty every 'syncInterval'.
+            // set dirty every 'syncInterval'.
+            // passive identities will ignore it.
             if (!sleeping) ++value;
         }
     }