Real Estate in the Metaverse Is Booming. Is It Really Such a Crazy Idea?

cryptonews.com:

Theo Tzanidis, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, the University of the West of Scotland._____ 

The idea of spending thousands or even millions of dollars to buy fictitious “land” in a virtual world sounds, to be frank, absurd.

But in recent months, we’ve seen significant investments in virtual land within the metaverse. PwC is among the latest to dive in, having purchased real estate in The Sandbox, a virtual gaming world, for an undisclosed amount.

If other reported sales are anything to go by, it would have been a handsome sum. One person recently bought a plot of land in the Snoopverse – a virtual world rapper Snoop Dogg is developing within The Sandbox – for USD 450,000.

Meanwhile, the Metaverse Group, a real estate company focused on the metaverse economy, reportedly bought a piece of land in Decentraland, another virtual platform, for USD 2.43m.

Let’s refresh on what the “metaverse” is. You probably heard the term a lot when Facebook re-branded to Meta in October 2021. Other companies, such as Nike and Microsoft, have also announced they will launch into this space.

The metaverse describes a vision of a connected 3D virtual world, where real and digital worlds are integrated using technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This immersive environment will be accessible through the likes of VR headsets, AR glasses, and smartphone apps.

Users will meet and communicate as digital avatars, explore new areas and create content. The idea is the metaverse will develop to become a collaborative virtual space where we can socialize, play, work and learn.

There are several metaverses already – for example in virtual gaming platforms like The Sandbox and virtual worlds like Decentraland. In the same