Quick take:
- Mark Cuban says buying virtual real estate is “the dumbest s**t ever”.
- The billionaire venture capitalist has previously criticised Meta’s approach to the metaverse, especially regarding the use of VR headsets.
- Cuban thinks the metaverse is hyped and “is not even as good as URL or ENS.”
Mark Cuban says buying digital land in the metaverse is a dumb idea. So dumb that it’s not even comparable to a URL or an ENS domain.
The popular angel investor has grown fond of the web3 ideology, investing in multiple projects. However, Cuban remains a big critic of how the likes of Meta are sizing up the metaverse opportunity.
Earlier this year, he admitted to having invested in virtual reality, with patents for a medical application still pending. But he still went on to critique Facebook’s approach to the metaverse saying, people cannot spend too much time immersed in 3D worlds.
The metaverse is broadly described as a 3D virtual space of interconnected worlds that can be accessed using virtual reality or augmented reality headsets.
The Shark Tank co-host and venture capital investors think that while roaming in a virtual theme park may get you excited during your first, second, or third visit, it is inevitable that you’ll soon get bored.
“You go on that roller coaster and you’re thrilled to death, but you don’t go back every day,” he said in March.
And now, he has identified another segment of the metaverse that he thinks is ‘total bs’. Speaking to Altcoin daily, Cuban said that one of the worst things about the metaverse is that “people are buying real estate in these parts.”
“That’s just the dumbest shit ever.”
Digital land sales last year passed the $500 million mark and are expected to double that figure this year despite the crypto downturn. This segment of the metaverse is dominated by three companies, Decentraland, The Sandbox and Axie Infinity, with the latter two also prominent in the blockchain gaming category.
Though not the biggest segment of the metaverse opportunity, virtual real estate plays a crucial role in all the other segments. Firstly, game developers create environments for their gaming experiences in virtual worlds. Real-life retail stores have also been acquiring plots of land to open virtual stores, while corporate institutions and even government organisations have targeted the space for virtual offices.
The metaverse is mainly built on Web3, although there are Web2-based platforms. Companies acquiring virtual real estate look at it as the next iteration of the web. And if you trace back the history of the web and business (advertising, e-commerce, etc), then it becomes abundantly clear why there might be some FOMO on Web3.
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