The thought of investing millions of dollars in purchasing fictitious land will undoubtedly sound absurd. However, many companies have ventured into the metaverse where they are investing a fortune in virtual lands. The latest company to delve into this real estate business is PwC. Although the amount used has not been disclosed yet, the company has purchased a property in a virtual gaming world known as The Sandbox.
Snoop Dogg, a renowned rapper in the US, is also creating a virtual world within The Sandbox known as Snoopverse. In an article featured on Fortune, he is reported to have already found a customer who bought a plot of land for a whopping US$450,000. Metaverse Group is another company focused on the metaverse economy and has invested US$2.43 million to purchase a parcel of land in Decentraland, which is another virtual platform dealing in real estate.
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is a term used to define the connection between the real world and the digital world, where a vision is created through 3D virtual world connections. The integration of the two worlds is made possible through modern technologies that include augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). To access this immersive space, you also need modern devices such as AR glasses, VR headsets and smartphone apps.
Notably, the metaverse will play a huge role in elevating the gaming industry, where many analysts believe it will shift the perception of games-as-a-service to games-as-a-platform. The increase in value of the industry will see a rise in the number of gaming and gambling sites even in regions with stringent conditions such as the Middle East. Gaming is on the rise there, with Saudi Arabia hoping it will be a big part of its 2030 initiative. Many games are becoming popular from strategy to even live casino games. To meet with the demand there are already several reliable gambling sites in which Arabian Betting has reviewed. Here you will find recommendations of the best operators for Arab countries, in-depth reviews on sports betting markets available for Arabic players and safe payment methods to use. Additionally they provide support on finding the best and latest welcome bonuses.
The essence of the metaverse is to create a collaborative virtual space where users can learn, work, play, and socialize. You can create content, explore new fields, and communicate as a digital avatar by joining this platform. There are already existing metaverses, such as the Decentraland, a virtual world, and the Sandbox, a virtual gaming platform.
The metaverse concept is borrowed from creating websites where a single website is part of the 2D World Wide Web. In the same way, an individual metaverse will be part of the broader connected metaverse. Therefore, this technology will enable individuals to buy things just as it is the case in the real world, including parcels of land.
Virtual Land as an NFT
Business in the virtual world is transacted using cryptocurrency. In addition to crypto, The metaverse has embraced non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as the primary mode of exchange. They are simply digital assets, uniquely designed as items of digital art such as 3D objects, music, images, and videos. Some assets may also be listed as NFTs, including virtual real estate. Nowadays, purchasing virtual houses or plots of land on platforms such as OpenSea, which deals in NFTs, has become one of the investment options for Millenials, among others discussed by From Frugal to Free.
The metaverse applies the economic concepts that are used in the real world. One of them is ‘scarcity value,’ where the supply of digital real estate is limited to boost its value. For example, there are only 90,000 pieces of land on Decentraland, each measuring 50 feet by 50 feet.
The Future of Metaverse Real Estate
For now, this vision seems absurd and way out of reach, but people had similar doubts about social media and the internet. In the coming years, experts have forecasted that the metaverse will develop into a fully functioning economy to provide a digital experience that becomes part of life, as is the case with social networking.
