Decentraland’s MVFW Disappoints with 76% Drop in Attendance

Early metaverse pioneer Decentraland recently wrapped up its four-day Metaverse Virtual Fashion Week (MVFW). However, the event struggled to attract users, with only 26,000 attendees. This marks a 76% decline compared to last year’s 108,000 unique attendees. This is also despite the participation of top brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, and Adidas, the maximum number of users signed in at one time was just over 1,000.

Why Decentraland’s MVFW Failed To Attract People

Decentraland, a brand name standing at a $1 billion valuation, is not alone in its struggles. Blockchain-powered games and platforms like The Sandbox, Alien Worlds, and Axie Infinity have also failed to attract and retain mainstream consumers. Meanwhile, NFT trading is just a fraction of what it was during the bull run. In comparison, popular web2 gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite boast tens of millions of users daily. So, what’s happening?

“Although attendee numbers were down, we had tens of thousands of new visitors to the metaverse,” states Dr. Giovana Graziosi Casimiro, head of Metaverse Fashion Week. “For the second ever Metaverse Fashion Week, we believe that we improved upon the experience from last year.”

Decentraland’s gameplay, design, and reliability have all been criticized, which may be why the platform has failed to meet expectations. Additionally, the total number of Decentraland landowners is low, with only 8% of the 98,000 land NFTs in existence owned by unique holders. This suggests that a small group of people may be hoarding the land, including Decentraland itself, which still owns around 67,000 plots. Of the 98,000 land NFTs on Decentraland, only 8% unique holders exixt. This would mean that there are technically about 7,800 NFT whales that own all land on the platform.

The Decline Of Decentraland?

Furthermore, Decentraland’s native token, Mana, has also suffered in the bear market. With the price falling from a market cap of $6.8 billion to $1.1 billion. In the bull run, the price of Mana ran up to around $5, but now has a current trading price of about $0.60. This decline is also not unique to Mana, as the entire crypto industry has been experiencing a downturn.

In a latest video by social media critic Dan Olson, he states: “In practice it’s a bad video game made up of smaller, worse video games wrapped in real-estate scheme cosplaying as The Matrix.” Olson’s channel Folding Ideas has more than 800,000 subscribers.

Despite the disappointing results of the virtual fashion week, the event planners still looked for a bright side. They emphasized that Decentraland’s struggles are not unique, and that the entire industry is facing challenges. Nevertheless, Decentraland must work on improving its platform if it hopes to attract and retain more users in the future.

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