{"id":10857,"date":"2022-01-30T19:14:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T19:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bubble-or-our-future-investors-netizens-pay-thousands-of-dollars-for-patches-of-digital-land"},"modified":"2022-01-30T19:16:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-30T19:16:19","slug":"bubble-or-our-future-investors-netizens-pay-thousands-of-dollars-for-patches-of-digital-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bubble-or-our-future-investors-netizens-pay-thousands-of-dollars-for-patches-of-digital-land","title":{"rendered":"Bubble or Our Future? Investors, Netizens Pay Thousands of Dollars for Patches of Digital Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>While the industry of virtual worlds and their digital economies have existed for years, Facebook’s announcement last year about focusing on developing a “metaverse” is suspected to be the main driver of the currently soaring prices in digital real estate.<\/p>\n

Real estate prices are skyrocketing, only not in the real world, but in virtual ones, sometimes dubbed the “metaverse” after a grand project announced by what was formerly Facebook (now rebranded as Meta). Some platforms have seen price increases for patches of digital land as high as 400% to 500% amid the pandemic lockdowns and following Meta’s announcement of its development plans.<\/p>\n

Just like in regular online games, metaverse projects selling digital land are accessible via PC programs. However, oftentimes these projects are developed not so much for games, but rather for socialisation or creativity \u2013 for example by building a house, a mansion, or any other structure on the digital land you just bought.<\/p>\n

And naturally one can sell their land along with the structures for added value. Even though they exist only on the game’s servers, the price for a lot can reach thousands of dollars, depending on what’s built on it and on the land’s proximity to social hubs and other centres of attraction.<\/p>\n

New Market for Investors on the Horizon?<\/b><\/p>\n

Trading digital land or creations is not new to the gaming world. Such transactions occurred before the pandemic on other platforms, ranging from the socially-oriented Roblox metaverse, to the more gameplay-oriented Minecraft. Furthermore, such trading has long been mundane in the Second Life online game, which has existed since 2003. But now that metaverses are attracting more and more people amid lockdowns and growth of popularity of the virtual world, the first investors have started to explore the new virtual real estate market.<\/p>\n

Toronto-based Tokens.com recently spent $2.5 million on a stake of digital land in Decentraland \u2013 another popular online platform. Another virtual real estate company, Republic Realm, spent some $4.3 million buying virtual private islands, which the company later sold for $15,000 each.<\/p>\n

Investors are apparently not the only ones willing to spend a fortune on digital plots of land \u2013 one Sandbox user paid $450,000 for a small territory adjacent to where Snoop Dogg is currently building his digital mansion.<\/p>\n

Snoop Dogg is not the only famous guest in the virtual world. Justin Bieber held two virtual concerts in November 2021 at the Wave online virtual reality platform, where he appeared via his digital avatar, whose movements copied those of the singer.<\/p>\n

Before that, Ariana Grande held an entire tour in August 2021 hosted on the popular flatscreen shooter Fortnite \u2013 again appearing in the form of a virtual avatar.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it’s hard to predict whether the popularity of metaverses will last long and what the digital land investments will be worth in a couple of years. In a comment for CNBC, Arizona State University professor and director of real estate theory and practice, Mark Stapp, alleged that eventually the prices of such digital assets will drop significantly.<\/p>\n

Yorio from Republic Realm also warns that digital real estate assets are “highly, highly risky”. She cautioned people against investing something that they are not ready to lose in them. Yorio noted, however, that despite the risks, the potential reward could be massive.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. While the industry of virtual worlds and their digital economies have existed for years, Facebook’s announcement last year about focusing on developing a “metaverse” is suspected to be the main driver of the currently soaring prices in digital real estate. Real estate prices are skyrocketing, only not in the real world, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-10857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nBubble or Our Future? 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