Decentraland Has 379 Active Users, SandBox Has 616

According to the data from DappRadar, a tool that provides insights into decentralized applications, metaverse platforms are struggling to retain users, despite having multi-billion dollars worth of market caps.

As of writing this, the data shows 379 daily users on Decentraland and 616 in Sandbox. Both projects have a market cap of over $1.2 Billion. 

However, Axie Infinity had over 21,000 users. Whereas Alien Worlds, a metaverse where players compete for scarce resources, had over 202,000 users.

Why are there no users for Decentraland and Sandbox?

DappRadar defines an active user as a number of unique wallet addresses interacting with a particular Dapp’s smart contracts. It may not include the users who might just be exploring around in the metaverse without making a transaction in the smart contract.

Sandbox and Decentraland are platforms where users are not required to make transactions frequently. At the same time, games like Axie Infinity or Alien Worlds need players to interact with the smart contract often.

The official Twitter handle of Decentraland clarified the discrepancies with a Twitter thread. However, users were quick to note that even still, the numbers did not add up to any sort of popular adoption ranked with the likes of today’s popular video games, such as Grand Theft Auto 5 or popular PC first-person shooter CS GO:

How does metaverse stand against Web2 games?

Decentraland’s Twitter community believes these numbers are still horrendous compared to CSGO or GTA 5. The gaming company Roblox Corporation had over 52.2 million daily active users of Roblox games worldwide in the second quarter, according to reports from Statista. 

Why are metaverse platforms not able to retain users?

The metaverse platforms attracted users through its play-to-earn model when the bull market was in full swing. Most platforms’ fundamental strategy for acquiring users was to focus on the point that users could earn crypto while playing games. 

The high market cap of platforms like Decentraland and Sandbox is maybe because people see them as a good investment and probably not a good platform to transition from their favorite Web2 platforms. Users believe that there is definitely money to be made, but that’s all the platforms offer. With the bear market, the earnings through these platforms reduced drastically, and users are moving back to Web2 platforms.