Developer Jamestown Brings One Times Square To The Metaverse

Real estate giant Jamestown and Digital Currency Group, a digital assets investor, formed a partnership at the end of 2021 to re-create One Times Square in the metaverse virtual world Decentraland.

Jamestown owns the physical One Times Square, famed for its New Year's Eve celebration, while DCG is one of the largest owners of digital real estate in Decentraland, a leading metaverse platform that launched in 2017.

Beginning on New Year's Eve, participants were able to visit a virtual version of One Times Square to partake in a celebration of the coming of 2022, including a dropping of the ball, music and entertainment acts, art galleries and immersive games.

The event lasted into the early hours of the new year. As of Monday, the organizers hadn't released data on the number of participants in the One Times Square metaverse event, but a spokesperson for Jamestown told Bisnow that such data would be forthcoming.

The One Times Square nonphysical festival is the latest headline event for the concept of the metaverse. The concept doesn't have a precise definition yet, but it is generally characterized as interconnected virtual communities, or worlds, that people can access via virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

Investors have taken a keen interest in the interconnected virtual worlds of the metaverse, which in theory represents a land rush for the limited spots for sale in metaverse platforms.

In November, 116 parcels of "land" were sold in Decentraland for $2.5M, and in October, Tokens.com, a blockchain specialist, paid $1.7M for a 50% stake in Metaverse Group, a pioneering virtual real estate company.