Upland, Blockchain-Backed Mirror World, Attracts Hundreds of Thousands of Players, Earning Cryptocurrency Worth Many Millions USD Every Month

San Francisco HQ of Tilia owner Linden Lab already owned by an Upland high roller 

Let's briefly check in on Upland, the virtual real estate acquisition game that's sort of Monopoly meets a mirror world, where virtual real estate is registered on the EOS blockchain, and is the first paying customer for Linden Lab's Tilia payment service. Since I wrote about it in June 2020 (shortly after launch), it's become an online world with a pretty large virtual community -- and some nosebleed-serious real cash flowing between its users.

According to Sensor Tower, the game's app garnered 100,000+ downloads and earned $200,000 last month on Google Play alone, but that's only part of the story. Upland's website (where the game can also be played) racked up over 5 million views last month, according to SimilarWeb; I'd estimate that as monthly active players in the mid-six figures. 

But the level of transactions already happening in Upland are even wilder:

This user-run site tracks Upland transactions and leaderboards, and they're fairly amazing. Last month, for example, the top 100 Upland players earned proceeds worth several million USD.

"You need to understand that they marketed to the Crypto and NFT guys," as Upland player Octavius explains, "many of which are a new fairly wealthy group of crypto money."

Octavius once ran a roleplay community in Linden Lab's Second Life, but has since become an Upland land baron, growing a $2,000 investment in the game into assets worth about $10,000. In the process, he's learned there's value in 2D virtual worlds like Upland, versus the immersive 3D experience we typically associate with virtual worlds:

"I would say that Upland continues the revelation of Minecraft," as he puts it. "I.E., that there is place for a high fidelity platform that has all the bells and whistles and where you just create your own adventure totally. And a low fidelity option where the graphics themselves are set at a certain level (though lovely and cohesive in Upland's case using the voxel style) however the game play, community and strategy are exceptional."

It's pretty impressive growth, and could make Upland one of the largest virtual worlds in the crypto/blockchain/NFT space. By contrast, for example, the widely-ballyhooed Decentraland only counts "a few hundred people" concurrently logged in (according to the New York Times' recent article on the Metaverse).

Comments

[uplander]

Upland really rocks. Thanks to your first article last summer i discovered Upland. Then invested around 500$, bought initial properties in San Francisco and started flipping. All the earnings I've reinvested in new properties. Today my portfolio is 12k$ and growing. Really recommend!