Is Metaverse the next frontier for developers?

Author | David Edwards, Oakfield Design & Creation

With the recent rebranding of Facebook to Meta and the rise of gaming virtual world platforms Epic Games and Trinity, the attraction of digital land acquisition is becoming a new significant investment opportunity.

In November 2021, a plot of virtual land sold for $2.43 Million, double the previous record for land prices in a virtual space.

Meta Group recently purchased the popular Decentraland, an online environment where users can exchange cryptocurrency for land and buildings. Decentraland allows users to walk through the digital world, meet other users and use customisable Avatars and Meta Group’s purchase indicates that they believe add ons or customisation of a users Avatar is where the market is going, now and in the future.

Already there is interest from high-end luxury fashion houses, which has already generated buzz and hype within the virtual world. Once users have upgraded their Avatar with the latest Rolex, Gucci outfit or Jimmy Choo shoes, it’s indicated that buying a digital property will become the next level of customisation.

Developments with more consumer choice

Customers in the real world can now also be offered an option to buy a virtual world version of their new home. Not only can they live in it in the real world, but they can also live in it in the digital world.

This additional choice can offer a more extensive range of options. You may reside in the UK, but your house in the digital world can be anywhere on the planet, in a tropical paradise, the heart of the busiest cities or perched on a tranquil, snowy mountain top.

Maybe you would like a kitchen upgrade or different roof tiles, even different weather. All these add-ons can be supplied at a low-level cost to the consumer. People’s need for instant gratification and the ever-present “keeping up with the Jones’s” can easily be satisfied in the virtual world. There is no end to the possibilities, with the only limits is being our imagination.

When will virtual worlds be accessible?

This all sounds wonderful and if truth be told, somewhat worrying. The current software and graphic capabilities are there already and improving all the time. The only drawback is the hardware to support such grand ideas. Currently, clumpy headsets and expensive equipment means this is primarily an enthusiast’s passion.

But as Mark Zuckerberg’s recent keynote suggests, he has a five-year plan to start bringing AR headsets and lightweight wearable technology to the masses and with other gaming and digital producers also accelerating this process, it is only be a matter of time before we are all able to live in a digital paradise, built and maintained by the world’s biggest and boldest property developers.

The march towards living in the virtual world has already begun.