Today there is big news that the number of privates estates in Second Life have dropped below the 20, 000 mark for the first time since 28th June 2008 according to Tyche Shepherd on SLUniverse Forums. The net loss of private estate regions this year to date now stands at 995 regions which is a 4.7% loss. In comparison last year the net loss for private estates was 11.3% between January 2012 to December 2012
On 6th January 2013 private regions was 20, 921 and today there are 19, 997 private regions left on the grid. This is rather alarming and shocking news that there is still a noticeable decline happening in Second Life. There was a positive peak in late March 2013 when there was small growth of 13 regions in private estates in Second Life which was a good sign. The last time before that was 24th June 2012.
I guess if rates continue private estates would go under the 15, 000 mark sometime in 2016/2017. We need a recovery plan for private estates so growth can take place again.
On 6th January 2013
- Total main grid regions: 28, 036
- Total private estates: 20, 921
- Total Linden owned: 7, 115
On 21st July 2013
- Total main grid regions: 27, 079
- Total private estates: 19, 997
- Total Linden owned: 7, 082
See the graph below for the net loss of Second Life Private Estates during 2013.
See the graph below from October 2006 to July 2013 showing growth peaks then for some reason there is a noticeable decline of SL private estates.
What needs to be done to see growth in private estates in Second Life in 2013/2014+?
Daniel Voyager 
Lowering the price of a private estate would help a lot! I’d be all about my own private thing if it didn’t cost so damn much.
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i agree on lowering the price would help alot. However then Linden Lab will need to come up with a special deal or something so that everyone can have an estate.
I hope Linden Lab will do something to address the decline in private/MG regions sooner rather then later. More deals and choice is needed!
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Well if estates tier are lowered then the people who have renters now will be screwed because more will want their own estates or people that get them cheaper will ruin whatever is left of the market now,,
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Remember when SL had so much Growth and demand for land that LL had to change their pricing and terms?
/me wonders if LL remember.
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Private estates growth happened alot from October 2006 to mid 2008 then changes were introduced by the lab. Then the decline started to happen with peaks every so often.
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Why not give every new resident a free piece of land, like they do in Cloudparty. I only got really addicted to SL when I had my first land. Then there could be the restriction that new residents get the land only when they finish a tutorial and they get it only for 6 months, then they have to pay. And they need to log in at least once per month.
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That sounds like a good starter plan, Eric.
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I’ve written about this a while ago and added a few solutions, they may not all help, but who knows there is something there that might be a good idea;
http://joyardley.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/tier/
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Thanks Jo – I’ll take a look. 🙂
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Lower price is not a solution they would loose too much. They need to update the grid, modernize it, make it prettier and less lag….and they need Oculus Rift being mainstream. AND a web application too.. and and…. i hope they make it 😀
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I hope those things you mentioned works Mera for the lab to update the grid with new improvements this year and next. It would help and make the experience in-world better for sure.
There has been many noticeable improvements since 2011 when Rodvik became CEO of Linden Lab including mesh, pathfinding, project shining, CHUI and recently the new materials project.
More needs to be done! 🙂
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Materials are essential. I have spent a lot of time in Cloud Party and I know it really makes a huge difference.
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I agree Mera, those that clamor for lower tier prices will not specify what lower means I have a feeling it would mean FREE! if they won’t pay 295 a month now , there’s no good reason to think they would pay 200 a month or 100 or 50 …
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I think LL should lower prices sometime this year and see what happens. If rates continue the SL grid size will be much smaller in 2015+.
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yes they need to lower prices.
Making the grid better would help also, but most cannot afford what is it now, $400 American dollars a month?
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I agree.
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One easy step that wouldn’t hurt LL financially that much, would be to get rid of the set up fee for new sims. Also VAT is still a huge disadvantage for European users, who have to pay up to 400 USD for a sim per month, because of that. Legally LL should be able to find a way to get rid of that, since they don’t have offices in the EU anymore as far as I know.
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Thanks Eric.
Yeah remove VAT and setup fees would be very helpful and then it would be much easier to have private region.
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I wrote a briefing on Cyberculture earlier this year http://www.scribd.com/doc/124615601/Cybercultue-2013-Edited I used sl as an example. While researching I found little about sl in the main stream press. a few Universities are using second life. Giving learned bodies a discount could be a way forward with a spin off of students staying, there was I understand , a bit of a boom when “every” company would have an sl presence this seems to have fizzled out. I would like to see more articles about sl in the press.
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Yes that would be good to see for sure.
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Yes,, you found little because the marketing is little..there is nil product placement into the larger mainstream media i.e movies, television I can tell you when we did a live concert at Old Europe with a very known band from Romania PRO-TV covered it, on news which is national there, the metrics for the month by comparsion were USA increase of 6% others no more then 10% new users from Romania shot up to 106%
with many new people coming and asking where certain things were they had seen on television..I saw NO special promotions or creative marketing coming from the Lab when the movie Avatar was released for example..
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Hi Daniel. I wrote a post on this subject too and I concluded it wont be so easy for Linden Lab to reduce pricing without damaging the economy and the land Barons business in particular. But they could drop it a little in stages. They just need to be careful with the baby or it will go out with the bath water.
http://metaverse-traveller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/second-life-region-count-falls-but-not.html
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Interesting read and I think something really has to be done sooner than later.
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Not sure why land baron’s always get hammered on the land pricing regarding homesteads
owning a homestead thru a long time respected land service has alot of advantages,
It is cheaper ,Lab is 125.00 a month vs. private service most times around 110.00 to 115.00
Estate rights is everything but being able to a load terrain file,
Private services offer expanded payment plans,
If you pay linden labs or a land baron you are still renting regardless
just like in real life if you do not pay land tax’s they close your real life sim called your home
as well.
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Thanks Eric 🙂
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