Buying a land that you will never step on, which belongs to a virtual world of a game that does not yet exist, might sound far-fetched. But in the universe of non-fungible tokens (NFT), where Axie Infinity is king, you have to be prepared for the most unusual things, because in this metaverse that is in development it is difficult to separate the real from the unreal.
The truth is that in the real world that seems fantasy, more than 35,000 players have committed to pay a total of USD 203 million for the virtual lands of a game which is in development .
Ember Sword is only a promise of the video game studio Bright Star Studios in Denmark, founded in 2018 by world champions and fans of the games industry. His proposal focuses on the model Play to Earn or play to win that, Hand in hand with Axie Infinity, it has become the gaming boom of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In May, the studio sold its first 12,000 parcels of land, when it raised USD 1.5 million, as reported by CoinDesk. Then, in July, it put another 6,000 parcels up for sale under an applicant selection process. Now, more than 35,000 players are registered to purchase the land that is nothing more than NFT collectibles.
Players can acquire plots starting at 0.014 ethers (ETH) or USD 40 and up to USD 80,000, although these first land sales are 50% off the price they should be, according to the game developers.
Players are buying these invisible plots with the idea of one day being able to build on them part of the project metaverse. Each land can also be rented or sold later.
On the Bright Star Studios side is the promise that the game will share the revenue with the players. “We do this by distributing 50% of the income generated within the Ember Sword world among the land owners, with an ERC-20 token. ”, As the company points out in its medium blog.
Three months ago, Bright Star Studios raised USD 2 million in a financing round in which companies from the cryptocurrency sector participated such as CoinGecko Ventures, Delphi Digital and the world of videogames such as Animoca Brands, among others.
Axie Infinity lands a real estate market in the metaverse?
A real estate market has been gathering strength in the metaverse, first it was Decentraland, then Axie Infinity offered its first sale of tokenized land in January 2019 when the most expensive was 1 ETH, about USD 240 at that time, according to data from CoinMarKetCap.
However, two years later the price of these virtual lands have risen above 9,000%. This was recently made clear by Kieran Warwick who reported on Twitter about the $ 28,000 sale of Axie Infinity land that cost him $ 300 a year ago.
On the other hand, earlier this year, someone bought nine pieces of land from Axie Infinity’s Genesis world for a record transaction of $ 1.5 million. Although this game world is still in development, it was noted down for history as the largest NFT transaction in terms of value , as reported by Dappradar at the time.
Owners of Axie Infinity tokenized lands can make some improvements in their territories, where they have the option to build shops, markets or place dungeon hotspots. They can also place items on their parcels that grant special powers to their Axies.
However, just like real-world real estate investments, this makes virtual land valuable in the metaverse, it’s not just where it is located within each game, but how owners choose to capitalize on their land.
In other games like Decentraland, for example, virtual land owners they have built digital art galleries, casinos or other centers with attractions. These virtual venues seek to attract users who can charge a ticket to enjoy a concert or have fun with content sponsored by a brand, such as the Atari arcade.
As more real-world brands enter the metaverse as a way to interact, advertise, and connect with users and customers, the real estate market within the metaverse is likely to continue to increase its value.
Anyway, as in traditional real estate, many would not trust projects that hold their foundations on promises . The best thing will be to wait until the initiatives are already complying with what is offered. As well as thoroughly researching the projects you want to bet on.
It will also be important that players do not make assumptions about the actual selling price of an NFT or virtual parcel, but rather , look at the sales history of similar projects in nearby locations. Your best bet is to find out how much NFT’s parcels and markets are worth to determine how they are selling in these spaces.
