All eyes are on the real estate market right now, including in the metaverse. Real estate sales in the metaverse totaled over $500 million last year and are only expected to grow. But what’s the future beyond the digital land grab model and get-rich-quick schemes? Enter ATLAS EARTH, an augmented reality real estate game that allows players to earn real-life cash back on their digital properties.
Most of the conversation around the metaverse has centered around digital land grabs. Yet, the sustainability and long-term view of the metaverse and ownership in Web 3.0 have largely been ignored. ATLAS EARTH is working to change that by allowing players to build real value in the virtual world by creating a virtuous cycle between the real and virtual worlds.
How does it work exactly?
Founded by marketing and mobile gaming expert Sami Khan, ATLAS EARTH is the first game of its kind. Players can purchase virtual real estate with the in-game currency ATLAS BUCKS as a location-based game. But they can only do it where they are in real life, within 100 yards. Players then get cash back of about $.05 per parcel of land owned and can supercharge their entire real estate empire by up to 30 times by watching in-app ads. You can also buy ATLAS BUCKS in the Appstore or Google Play.
Players can become the Mayor, Governor, or President of their City, State, or Country by owning the most land in real-world geographic locations, such as Austin, Texas. These titles are broadcasted to everyone playing the game in their respective geography. So, for example, the Governor of Texas will be seen by everyone playing the game in Texas.
Ultimately, ATLAS: EARTH is the only virtual real estate project that is mobile-first and location-based. So we’re not talking about real estate displayed on a map where you can zoom wherever you want. Instead, players can only buy land where they are physically standing, validated by their mobile device.
Furthermore, ATLAS: EARTH is the only metaverse where players can earn land credits by shopping at real-world merchant partners. Using ATLAS BUCKS, players can shop at national partners and earn atlas bucks for every dollar they spend. So, for example, spending $10 at SONIC will earn you 10 atlas bucks as well, which you can use towards more land.
So far, many metaverse products have been lands that exist somewhere in the “ether” and left up to the trust of the DAO that more land will never be minted. When land is tied to the real world, that land is limited—as is the case with ATLAS: EARTH.
“Our mission is to create a system that allows players to earn value while holding their property,” said CEO and co-founder Sami Khan. “Most people already feel a connection with their city, state, or country,” “They also feel a connection to the real-world locations that they utilize in their daily lives, such as their homes. So we felt that ATLAS: EARTH was a perfect way to create.”
Khan added, “In short, ATLAS: EARTH desires to move the metaverse space forward by creating a more proper analog to real-world real estate—to gain value as you hold the properties, not only when you attempt to sell them for a profit.”
