"It's like the Wild West," say metaverse workers. Is it a new moneymaker? Anarchy? Strange, remote place? Some. Wild West residents didn't spend $650,000 on a digital boat.
In the metaverse, where individuals live and play in virtual online environments, real estate speculation is rampant. Investors expect Web3 to recover control of the web from multinational computer companies and provide users control, privacy, and security.
McKinsey reports that between January and May 2022, companies, VCs, and PE invested $120 billion in the metaverse.
Home prices have fallen. WeMeta CEO and co-founder Winston Robson said land prices in The Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium Space have dropped 50 to 80% this year. Real economy and cryptocurrencies caused the decrease.
Architects, designers, developers, and real estate agents face interruptions. Their metaverse projects have already touched reality.
Future-proofing
Voxel Architects CEO George Bileca studied architecture and design before getting Cryptovoxels. During the epidemic, he built a showroom for his friend's digital cars. Bileca has 25 metaverse workers.
Voxel Architects has created over 100 metaverse projects, including Sotheby's galleries, fashion week settings, and a Tom Sachs NFT factory. Decentraland and Elvis in the Sandbox are next.
Bileca said metaverse architecture is real-world. A designer or architect sketches client ideas. Once a design is finalized, it's 3D-modeled using regular design tools, but to metaverse specs (different metaverses use different building blocks, and have different texture and color ranges).
Next, coding. Bileca: "It's a shell." After adding features like the ability to unlock doors, interact with artworks, and create custom UIs, gaming objectives, and other interactive aspects, the shell is deployed in a metaverse.
Bileca, who declined to name the customer, said the most expensive project was designing, developing, and deploying a Sandbox application for close to $500,000.
Aspirations Others invest in land. Others rent real estate to ads seeking metaverse customers. McKinsey predicts $2.6 trillion in metaverse e-commerce by 2030.
LandVault claims to be the largest metaverse land developer, renting property and operating marketing efforts. Huber says this isn't advertising. "Web3 doesn't utilize the word." "Brand experiences are distinctive."
Location affects rent. Being near a famous game or star's home can be helpful. Some say good design is crucial. Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio approves. The Weeknd, Will Smith, and Paris Hilton back Republic Realm. Luxurious news was reported. Everyrealm paid $4,300,000 for 792 Sandbox plots in 2021. The $650,000 superyacht Metaflower has a DJ booth, helipad, and hot tub.
Invitation-only The Row has 30 homes. Arsham, Kahn, and Christodoulou designed Everyrealm. Digital architecture unfettered by physics enables unique designs and large cantilevers.
Yorio: "We gave the artists free rein." She said, "Vital, unique architecture becomes a benchmark."
Everyrealm's Fantasy Island initiative sold 100 private islands in The Sandbox in a single day in August 2021. In late 2021, amid the cryptocurrency and NFT market boom, they sold for $15,000 each. They presently trade for roughly $100,000, down from $250,000 in late 2022.
The Row customers will get NFT designs for multiple platforms.
Yorio stated, "We want decentralization, but the selling model symbolizes metaverse investment uncertainty." It's hard to predict which metaverse will be most popular in one to five years.
Everyrealm hired Oren and Tal Alexander to monitor transactions.
Yorio said the Alexander brothers are evaluating September purchasers. "We want art to go to collectors, not speculators," she said. Costs unknown.
Yorio didn't think The Row showed metaverse-wide inequality. This is a totally different topic than "we're building a country club for 30 people." Disputed.
Stability-seeking
A Metaverse property's long-term worth may depend on user activity.
Dubai-based Roar's CEO bought office space in Decentraland. Dean bought four $60,000 plots to display Roar's work. This is marketing funding.
She already conducts client meetings in Roar's virtual office. In the coming months, she hopes to teach a metaverse course.
Roar is creating an NFT gallery, a shopping center, and floating pods for a metaverse hotel. Dean awaits her first rental and NFT sale, but she's optimistic about future growth.
Long-term forecasting is difficult given the metaverse's short lifespan and quick acceleration, especially as the property market grows. Metaverse property as trustworthy as physical? Web3 bubble?
Yorio stated, "We don't know if (metaverses) are stable, and we're deep in them."
Long-term viability may concern outsiders. Some industry members are excited.
WetMeta's Robson said Metaverse real estate investments may be safe.
Huber says the metaverse combines gaming and blockchain, which are not fads. "Doubling in six months is an exaggeration. This was a short mistake that was addressed."
"Short-term hoopla," he said. "Not interested; I like macro."
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