Is VR real estate speculation spoiling the promise of the metaverse? – Protocol

Hello, and welcome to Protocol Entertainment, your guide to the business of the gaming and media industries. This Tuesday, were examining the effects of rampant virtual real estate speculation on metaverse platforms, whether Wordle has gotten more difficult, and the fatigue caused by an overcrowded game release calendar.

Virtual land is drawing in large sums of very real money, and its causing division in the burgeoning new metaverse movement brewing in the corners of the tech and gaming industries.

While Big Tech has proclaimed the metaverse as the next big shift for the internet, there are already a number of companies that have a multiyear head start. Theyre now fast becoming hotspots of virtual real estate speculation as they open their doors to third-party investors, land developers and crypto enthusiasts.

The virtual land gold rush is concentrated among four companies all making what are best described as successors to influential life sim platform Second Life.

Its not all about the money for crypto enthusiasts. Somnium CEO and founder Artur Sychov told Protocol he was inspired to build the platform in 2017 after playing games like Ultima Online, which helped pioneer concepts like virtual avatars and land ownership in video games.

Many of the firms investing in virtual land have grandiose ideas about how pivotal the metaverse might be in the future, if only because it means that getting in on the ground floor will make them fabulously rich.

But who is this really for, and why is it so valuable? Many of these companies pouring money into virtual real estate seem to be at odds with the actual platforms providing the technology and infrastructure to support it. And of course, these platforms are happy to take their money if it helps fund their vision for a decentralized future. Sychov told me Somnium takes a 7.5% cut of aftermarket NFT sales on the marketplace.

But how valuable is an Adidas-themed virtual shoe shop in Metajuku if the only other users in Decentraland arent actually playing the game and instead simply checking the value of their NFT villa on OpenSea so they can flip it for a profit? Virtual land is just a small piece, Sychov told me. It will stay in the spotlight and be relevant for a certain period of time, but I dont think well see the hype because virtual land costs something only if it's useful to people.

Nick Statt

A version of this story also appeared on Protocol.com. Read it here.

When people get stressed out and burned out, you cant really treat it. They need to take a big chunk of time off, and even then, they come back frazzled. Were looking at how we can prevent this in an ongoing way. Rob Cunningham, the CEO of midsized game studio Blackbird, discussed the companys move to a four-day workweek with The Washington Post. He said the move saved the company following a shift to remote work.

I think theres going to be a lot of mutual respect there and I think Activision will be able to continue doing what they do best. Thats also whats most important to us at the end of the day, whatever form that takes for us and our company. So I would not turn anything down, as long as our freedom was still respected. PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba spoke to VGC about Microsofts Activision Blizzard deal and the prospect of getting acquired during an era of intense consolidation in the game industry.

As we move into a world after COVID-19, the biopharma industry must understand how to maintain this incredible pace of innovation without forfeiting precision or quality. Smart manufacturing otherwise known as Industry 4.0 converges IoT, software-defined infrastructure, advanced analytics and AI to create more flexible and interoperable digital manufacturing platforms.

Learn more

Horizon Zero Dawn joins an exclusive club. Guerrilla Games adventure title has joined the rare ranks of PlayStation exclusives to pass 20 million units sold, Sony announced last week. The sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, is getting rave reviews and releases on Friday.

Dutch regulators continue fining Apple. The iPhone-maker has now been hit with a total of 20 million in fines over the past month for failing to abide by app store regulations in the Netherlands. Apple outlined new rules for dating app-makers, but regulators say the terms are unreasonable.

Wordle is not actually getting harder. The daily viral guessing game is using the same bank of potential words, even after getting acquired by The New York Times, The Verge reported. Perhaps you, like us, have just had some bad days.

India bans Garena Free Fire. The popular battle royale shooter is among more than 50 apps banned by the Indian government over links to China. India is Garena Free Fires biggest market, and the ban could pose serious complications to its business.

VFX veterans form a new game studio. The crossover between gaming and Hollywood continues with Blinkmoon, a new developer formed by VFX artists Mohsen Mousavi and Hugh Behroozy and game developer Troy Dunniway.

CNNs streaming strategy is in shambles. CNN+ was supposed to be the networks path to a streaming future. Then Jeff Zucker got ousted, and things went sideways.

Some NBC shows may disappear from Hulu. Comcast is reportedly nearing a deal to boost its own Peacock streaming service.

The Foo Fighters Super Bowl VR show didnt go as planned. The lobby crashed, leaving many fans stranded, and the whole experience wasnt nearly as immersive as it could have been, according to Kent Bye.

The new-game release calendar has been jam-packed since last fall, and some of the biggest releases this year are slated to come in the next two weeks. This is partly by accident; COVID-19 delays inadvertently created an unusual swell of big product drops concentrated in the first few months of 2022. But its creating a very real sense of fatigue among players (me included) who struggle to devote enough time to new releases before the next big thing takes over the gaming zeitgeist.

This week, Sony is releasing Horizon Forbidden West, and a few days later FromSoftware will drop Elden Ring. Both games were delayed and are now going head-to-head against Destiny 2s The Witch Queen expansion next week and competing with Sloclaps Sifu, Techlands Dying Light 2 and three new Pokmon games released since November.

As Polygon reported earlier this month, these effects might go beyond the pandemic, with game developers less concerned about releasing products into traditional summer and holiday release windows as more and more of the industry turns to digital distribution. One easy way to cope: Wait on new games and finish what you start. Im currently playing Sifu, as well as the excellent indie card game Inscryption and Acid Nerves Deaths Door. Ill get around to the new stuff when I can.

Nick Statt

Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to entertainment@protocol.com. Enjoy your day, see you on Thursday.

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Is VR real estate speculation spoiling the promise of the metaverse? - Protocol