The 2023 metaverse construction market analysis has just been published and shows exactly what it costs brands to build in the open metaverse. Brands all over the world have been exploring how to enter the metaverse and the key question around costs has remained partially unanswered. SandStorm, the largest community of metaverse builders globally published their 2023 analysis today. As the primary construction marketplace for the open metaverse, brands from dozens of different industries have been hiring 3D builders on SandStorm to dip their toe into virtual worlds like Sandbox, Decentraland, and beyond.
The 2022 metaverse construction market analysis showed builders on SandStorm were able to earn hundreds each month creating assets in the metaverse for brands.
This first analysis had enough impact over the last 6 months that within 24 hours of the FTX collapse in November, SandStorm saw a 310% increase in daily metaverse builder registrations to their marketplace. With millions of creatives eager to work full time in the metaverse, this year’s market analysis gave thousands of builders a glimpse of what was possible.
“Price transparency for brands is foundational to establish the construction market for the open metaverse. Trust starts when new brands have accurate pricing data to confidently and safely hire builders. We’re humbled that our 2022 analysis from earlier this year set a rate floor for thousands of builders and the 2023 analysis aims to help establish average costs. This new data provides median rates to further empower both builders and brands across the entire industry. Brands now know exactly how much it will cost on average to create a wide range of assets and virtual experiences in 2023.”
– Steve McGarry CEO, SandStorm
The metaverse construction marketplace has doubled in size this year and the 2023 analysis shows builders are making thousands per month coming into the new year. With top builders on SandStorm earning upwards of $20,000 to create assets and experiences for brands across 5 virtual worlds, it’s clear demand for small to medium sized builds continues to increase. SandStorm’s marketplace data shows the volume of $100k to $250k builds being proposed by brands has decreased by over 70% while the amount of $5k to $25k builds has increased by over 550%. This increase in smaller builds indicates that brands want to first learn and test whats possible in the virtual worlds by hiring on-demand builders before committing to larger budgets. This also shows that many brands who already have virtual experiences need fixes, ongoing maintenance, and updates made as new features are released across virtual worlds.
Top development studios and individual metaverse builders across 37 countries and 5 virtual worlds shared their rates and timelines for construction in this analysis. It covers average costs that builders charge and brands pay to create everything from wearable assets, avatars, to full experiences. Here are a few of the key benchmark data points from the analysis:
Source: SandStorm, January 10, 2023
SandStorm connects brands with thousands of the best on-demand virtual world builders, driving down the barriers to metaverse entry. Using SandStorm’s unique “proposal and bid” marketplace, brands can easily submit a proposal, accept bids, and hire virtual real estate builders in desirable metaverses.