The Metaverse Real Estate Boom Turns Into a Bust
www.theinformation.com
The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for virtual land have plunged this year, part of a broader slide in crypto and non-fungible token prices. Soaring interest in virtual property spawned an industry that mirrors traditional commercial real ...

Stupid paywall

Here's the free part:

The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for virtual land have plunged this year, part of a broader slide in crypto and non-fungible token prices.

Soaring interest in virtual property spawned an industry that mirrors traditional commercial real estate—buyers develop land by adding virtual storefronts, and then sell or rent it to companies looking to set up shop as a marketing strategy or to sell things like clothing for online avatars. Investors who bought at the peak are now sitting on land that has tumbled in value. Meanwhile the real-world economic downturn could weigh on brands’ appetite for spending on building out their metaverse presence.

https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/xmYT6R5raD.jpg

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    the only reason real estate works is because all humans have to exist somewhere and keep some of the stuff they need to survive, like shelter and underwear and peanut butter. having somewhere to exist is compulsory.

    nobody needs virtual space to sleep or keep their virtual potato chips. like "oh no, my default virtual apartment is depressing. sucks i have to sit here with a VR headset on for 12 hours."

    someone above said it's all boomers and zoomers that got roped into this because they missed pre-web 2.0. i never thought of it like that, but no shit. the dotcom crash was instructive. i worked in IT at the time and watching all these huge piles of money change hands over hype was incredible. like mark cuban becoming stupid rich because he owned "broadcast.com" which Yahoo! thought was worth $5.7 billion for unknown reasons, apparently even to yahoo because it was shuttered like 2 years later.

    • charly4994 [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Another aspect that nobody seems to consider with these 12 hour a day VR sessions is the fact that VR is really uncomfortable for a lot of people. Half the streamers I watch take some kind of medication before doing a 3 hour stream in VR and even then, if the game does something weird, they might just end early because they feel so sick that they have to stop. These are the people using VR the most heavily beyond people that focus exclusively on VR stuff and if they're struggling to make it a few hours even with medication, how the fuck is most of the population going to just shove one on and not all collectively vomit several times a day?

      • SoyViking [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        You say VR is flawed by making people nauseous. I say VR opens up a whole new innovative field of marketing anti-nausea pharmaceuticals to consumers.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Are you really a gamer if you don't keep a bottle of Dramamine eXtreme next to your VR set?

    • eduardog3000 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There's also the part where real land is naturally scarce, whereas virtual "land" can be practically infinite.

      The only reason to get in on "virtual real estate" is if you foresee a lot of people wanting to use that artificially limited virtual world. But when the landlording starts before anyone even uses it, people can see that and just go to some other "metaverse".