Latest Trend: Virtual Land in Blockchain Games

Virtual land with ownership stored as a non-fungible token in the cryptocurrency wallet of the gamer, is the latest trend in the still nascent scene of video games powered by blockchain technology. League of Kingdoms is the latest blockchain game to introduce blockchain-powered virtual land. It's a trend that has been going on for a while, and isn't likely to stop soon.

Each of the blockchain games with virtual land have another take on the way this land is used. In virtual worlds like Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, Somnium Space and The Sandbox users can buy land and build on it. What they build is entirely their choice, and their construction can be monetized as well. It's a very traditional take on land ownership, free of gameplay restrictions.

However, there are plenty of other games that have land ownership tied to the core gameplay. For example in Axie Infinity lands will be used to enhance a team of Axies on the battlefield, or to create a better breeding environment. On the other hand, in Brave Frontier Heroes land unlocks special quests, events and other gameplay features. Within hours they made 72 thousand dollars selling land in Brave Frontier Heroes.

Virtual land is another way to add depth to the gameplay. In addition it also provides a revenue stream for the developers. The latest game to join the party is League of Kingdoms, an upcoming free-to-play mobile-focused game. By selling virtual land the developers are creating a player-powered economy in which they share as well. On top of that this player-powered economy is an incentive for players to pay for some extra in-game currencies.

Land in League of Kingdoms

In League of Kingdoms there will be a genesis continent, consisting out of 65.536 individual pieces of virtual land. Ownership over each piece of land is stored in a non-fungible token on the Ethereum blockchain. In this particular game each piece of land houses up to 16 kingdoms, meaning that each land has a 4x4 scale.

In this particular case buyers will claim ownership over the land at certain coordinates. If the entire genesis continent ends up being filled with 1.048.576 kingdoms, a new continent will be opened. Buyers will also own the land at the same coordinates on the new continent.

Owning land in League of Kingdoms rewards you with a certain percentage of the entire in-game revenue. The developers still need to decide about the details for this reward pool. including the ratio and the frequency. In addition land becomes more valuable as its development level increases, which can be done by collecting resources, building armies and so on. This will also influence adjacent lands. The development level is important for the rewards players will earn, for the resource the land produces.

Real money in virtual land

There are critics who believe that virtual land is the next big thing on the internet. For the past months projects like Cryptovoxels, Somnium Space and Decentraland were among the top ones in terms of trading volume. In the past seven days these three projects are responsible for 930 ETH in trading volume. That's 185 thousand dollars!

Investing in virtual land has been very beneficial for traders. Two years ago developer Ben Nolan had difficulty selling his virtual land inside Cryptovoxels. However, his final land sale for Genesis city sold land parcels at a minimum price of 400 dollars. Virtual land is becoming more valuable.

This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed in other industries. For example Atari signed up with The Sandbox to build a virtual theme park. Mainstream organizations like Forbes and Nasdaq have covered The Sandbox in recent weeks. Square Enix invested into The Sandbox, while several investment companies have tried to invest into Cryptovoxels.