The metaverse is a growth market. Practically every product or brand can benefit from being part of this digital space with relatively low production costs. The only question is, which part of this space is each player going to join? Many brands and celebrities opted for the Sandbox while others are in support of Decentraland. Some even chose to become part of both worlds.

Why is Netflix joining the club and what sort of entertainment can the audience expect?

Enter the maze, and win collectibles

Netflix is using Decentraland as its platform and invites its audience to join and solve a digital maze. The maze is a replica of the one in the movie “The Gray Man” starring Ryan Gossling. The goal is to complete the maze as quickly as possible.

Winners can call digital wearables their own that are also part of the movie. Navigating the maze will require knowledge of the plot of “The Gray Man”. This isn’t the first blockchain-related venture that Netflix started. In June the company launched an NFT-based game celebrating the launch of the fourth season of “Stranger Things”.

It seems that this could be the start of a broader attempt to adopt new technologies and also income streams. Decentraland is one of the biggest platforms in the metaverse that also attracted celebrities like Paris Hilton. But the shining image of the metaverse took a dent in 2022.

Shrinking numbers

One problem all metaverse platforms are facing equally is a shrinking user base. Of course, the bear market took its toll and many beginners left the market when it became clear that the price won’t go up in a straight line.

But there is still a lot of potential unexplored. The whole idea of Web3 and the Metaverse is relatively new. Companies like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta are attempting to shape a centralized version of this digital realm. This raises the question of whether ownership of digital content such as items or land plots could be highly important in the future than it is today. Meta will be owned by the company and its shareholders, not the users who populate the digital space.

A decentralized version of the Metaverse like Decentraland or the Sandbox are suggesting a very different model. It remains to be seen which side will remain more competitive. Having a use-case for cryptocurrencies and NFTs is one thing. User adoption is another that may or may not be easier to attract for big tech.