Decentraland disputed the DappRadar report, claiming it has 8,000 active users on a daily basis, which would put it behind Left 4 Dead 2 by about 10,000 users
Decentraland disputed the DappRadar report, claiming it has 8,000 active users on a daily basis, which would put it behind Left 4 Dead 2 by about 10,000 users
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is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
This year, I’ve received about 70 pitches about “metaverse” activities for big brand names like Samsung and UPS in Decentraland, which, as CoinDesk reports, is nearly double the 38 user number recorded by blockchain-watcher DappRadar during one 24-hour period earlier this week.
Decentraland tweeted that it actually has around 8,000 daily active users (DAU) and says it’s working with DappRadar to widen its tracking to include additional smart contracts and transaction types to get a more accurate picture of user activity.
If you’re not familiar with Decentraland, it’s a Web3 “metaverse” built on selling 90,000 plots of virtual land, drawing media coverage like this New York Times report that quotes one investor saying, “Why don’t we go in and buy the parcels of land in these metaverses, and then we can become the landlords?”
The “virtual real estate” plan has been derided by some as a pyramid scheme, like Indiana University Bloomington media professor Edward Castronova, who told CNBC, “The Metaverse is El Dorado for internet startups. They chase it into the jungle and die.”
Assuming the 8,000 figure is the correct one for Decentraland, that would put its active user base behind Left 4 Dead 2 by about 10,000 people, with Steam reporting the 2009 zombie game has over 18,000 people playing right now on PC.
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