An
article by Venturebeat has gotten attention in recent days. In part, it's because of the amount Linden Lab has invested in Second Life over the years, 1.3 billion US dollars. But it also mentioned something the residents would find more interesting. It's paid out a total of 1.1 billion US dollars to the residents.
It would be mentioned in a letter shared with some residents by Brett Linden
The formal numbers are: Linden Lab has officially surpassed $1.3 billion invested in building our world and $1.1 billion paid out to our incredible creators. These milestones speak volumes about the vibrant economy and thriving community that we have worked together to build over the years.
Fun fact: Creators in Second Life are 100x more likely to earn over $10K annually compared to Roblox - as highlighted in this VentureBeat article detailing how Second Life remains a shining example of a creator-first metaverse.
This achievement underscores the power of Second Life as a creator-first metaverse and the dedication of our vibrant community.
While Roblox does pay it's users for content created, they don't make as much in comparison. They give content creators about a 70 percent share. In contrast, Linden Lab allows Second Life's content creators a 90% share of what they make, taking in ten percent in fees.
An article in New World Notes would get into this further. According to it's sources, of the 21,152 people that made money in Second Life in 2023, about 30% or 6,446 made over $1000 USD. 1580 would make over $10,000. 138 would make over $100,000. And 14 would make over a million dollars US.
That's quite a bit of money from what some would dismiss as a "game."
In contrast, only 0.2%, a fifth of one percent of Roblox users make more than $1000 USD. Venturebeat compared it less than favorably to Second Life, "the business of Roblox today consists of a few winners and more losers,
kind of like the triple-A game business today, where the odds of any
given person’s success are pretty low."
Hamlet Au would call the businessmen and women of SL about four percent of Second Life's monthly users, about 500,000 in number. While the big moneymakers in the past were land barons such as Anshe Chung, it was his opinion that today an increasing number were in the mesh avatar and accessory business.
On a personal commentary, there's no statistics available for those who made a little less than a thousand USD, but it's not hard to imagine someone who makes several hundred dollars a year DJing or small-time content creating or some other inworld income, and while one might not be able to make a living that way, a few extra bucks in one's pocket can make life a little more comfortable.
Bixyl Shuftan
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