Today, we’ll discuss the top reasons for individuals and businesses to invest in real estate in the virtual Metaverse
7 reasons why you should buy real estate in Metaverse. Source: depositphotos.com
Some people still consider it insane to buy virtual property, especially for the price of a real mansion. However, that didn’t stop the subsidiary of Tokens.com, called the Metaverse Group from obtaining an extremely expensive piece of virtual land.
As you may already know, last November, a patch of the virtual real estate in the online metaverse world of Decentraland was sold for a record $2.4 million worth of its native crypto?MANA. This record amount of money is an average starting price for a luxury home across all markets globally.
Overall, sales of real estate in the metaverse reached $501 million last year and experts predict they could double in 2022.
Strike while the iron is hot
Buying a plot in the Metaverse now may be cheaper than it will be once big tech delivers the virtual projects they’ve been working on. Right now, the meta-market is in its inception, still being a vague media buzz for most people. However, the trend is expected to quickly develop and bring a lot of money to all those involved. Namely, according to different estimates, Metaverse may become an $800 billion – $1trillion market in a few years, and may even compete with Web 2.0 companies worth ~$15 trillion in market value today.
It’s a new outlet for retailers
World leaders in apparel retail such as Adidas, Nike, Balenciaga, Gucci, Gap, Under Armour, and Louis Vuitton have already started showcasing their fashion items in the virtual world, and collaborating with NFT creators to dress their collectable characters, making them even more exclusive. The retail giant Walmart also plans to sell virtual goods. The Metaverse VR is seen by global brands as the new means to advertise to a younger digital audience. As we can see, they don’t treat virtual goods as something ephemeral, bringing monetary value to digital things. It’s no wonder that the most expensive plot of land sold so far is situated in Decentraland’s fashion district, where the buyer company plans to host fashion events and build virtual retail shops.
Your avatar will need a place to live
Judging from the far-reaching presentation by Meta, one day we’ll all have our avatars in the virtual world. Those will work, meet up with friends, and rest in the comfort of their customisable homes. So, a plot of Metaverse land may serve as your sanctuary, an office or a party place – whatever you want. Thus, American rapper Snoop Dogg is one of the first celebrities to try out Sandbox creative opportunities. The rap star has a mansion built on the Sandbox plot of virtual land, with his own exclusive avatar store, and a few NFT collections to sell. In this virtual copy of his real-world mansion in California, Snoop Dogg hosts private parties, fan events, and more. Users who buy the Snoop Private Party Pass token even get a chance to have Snoop Dogg perform an exclusive concert on their LAND.
Play-to-earn opportunities
Players can buy a piece of land in a virtual game world and monetise their ownership. For instance, the Sandbox, which is by far the largest metaverse real estate platform and is responsible for three quarters of all land virtual sales in 2022, offers its players a few play-to-earn tools. The Game Maker tool allows you to create and play immersive games yourself and invite visitors. The Sandbox’s Foundation has allocated 300 million SAND to the Game Maker Fund in order to finance and incentivise gamemakers’ projects. Thus, you’ll be able to monetise the game built on your land plot. In addition, land owners can create NFTs to further sell them on the Sandbox marketplace. Decentraland also offers the opportunity to design and play mini games and win NFTs and wearables. You can then sell these assets for a profit. Although some of the P2E opportunities are available to users who don’t own any virtual real estate, land ownership generally gives you more chances to monetise your creations.
Hosting events
Metaverse events are still scarce, but they are potentially the new profit source for musicians, artists, celebrities and speakers. Therefore, you can use your virtual land to build some sort of a venue – concert stage, sports arena, dance club, conference hall, NFT art gallery, etc. Late 2020, Lil Nas X dazzled the world with a virtual concert experience performed entirely within Roblox. Since then, many artists have followed the lead. In November 2021, Decentraland hosted their first Metaverse Festival which included a lineup of 80 music acts. Meanwhile, WaveXR hosted Justin Bieber, Beatport Beyond, and Dillon Francis in 2021. Virtual concerts provide unique immersive experiences and have become a great solution for these harsh times when live shows are very limited.
Business expansion
All successful businesses today strive to employ an omnichannel marketing model, engaging with customers through all available platforms and communication channels. Metaverse will soon become one of the important business platforms as well. It might connect what are now separate apps from different brands in the future, blending shopping experience with AR and VR technologies. Although its full development would probably take at least a decade, both big and small businesses should start experimenting with this new e-commerce channel as early as possible. Virtual real estate would be useful to expand your brand’s presence into the virtual world of tomorrow. The immersive environment of the metaverse isn’t just an opportunity for reaching more consumers, though. The virtual office or other location on your digital land can serve as a training ground for employees, a place for work-related simulations, or a hall for team meetings
Advertising
In Metaverse, users will engage in a new kind of storytelling experience aided by 360° videos and 3D modelling. Advertising your products there will be more influential than any TV or social media ads, not to mention paper billboards. Customers will become part of the advertising themselves, seeing and feeling the items in the immersive virtual world. Real estates in the popular metaverses of Decentraland and Sandbox are already used for brand stores and virtual billboards. As hype builds around the idea, advertisers and their agencies are racing to benefit from the metaverse. The elements of gamification present in Metaverse allow brands to host branded installations and events that users can interact with, offer assets or limited-edition items that customers can only collect in the metaverse, engage clients in quests to earn various rewards, etc. If you own a virtual real estate, you can give way to your marketing imagination. If you’re a brand representative, you can engage with your target audience in ways unimaginable before. If you’re a marketing specialist, you can develop new immersive advertising experiences in your virtual surroundings and sell them to brands and companies after customisation.
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