Overview

Atlas Earth is a metaverse application and game where users buy virtual plots of real estate in real-world locations using the in-game currency "Atlas Bucks," which accrue "rent" money over time, which can be cashed out for real-world money. The more land you own, the higher up in the game's leaderboards you climb. The application has been accused of being a scam by some for the low rate of money that renting the virtual land awards players, seemingly requiring years to make back small investments. In April 2023, an advertisement for Atlas Earth featuring a song with the lyrics I Just Bought More Land In the Metaverse went viral online, inspiring memes about the ad and theories that the memes were largely an advertising campaign.

History

The Atlas Earth^[1] website launched around March 20th, 2021. The game uses your phone's GPS feature to offer players purchasable plots of real estate situated in real locations, which can be bought with the game's in-game currency "Atlas Bucks." Atlas Bucks are available to buy with real money. Players can purchase plots of land, which earn them rent by the second for a consistent flow of in-game currency, which can be cashed out for real-world money once the player reaches a minimum of $5 earned. Players can boost the amount of per-second rent by watching ads. On November 15th, 2021, a launch trailer for the game was released on YouTube,^[2] garnering over 111,000 views in just over a year (shown below). The game was made available on the Apple App Store^[3] and Google Play Store^[4] the next day.

Online Presence

The team behind Atlas Earth advertise their game through various social media accounts, including TikTok^[11] @atlasearthapp, Instagram^[12] @atlasearthapp, YouTube^[13] @CerberusInteractive and the Atlas Earth Facebook^[14] page. Many of the ads feature the game's Marketing Associat Derek Anderson (shown below).

Scam Accusations

The game has been accused by some online of being a scam due to the low amounts of money that each purchased parcel of land earns players, hypothetically taking players years to make back their initial investment. On February 4th, 2022, YouTuber JrFTW® posted a video accusing the game of being a scam for these reasons, garnering over 27,000 views in a year (shown below). He criticizes the idea of watching ads for the booster. He also claims he put a few hundred dollars into the game but finds it doubtful he'll make the investment back.

In October 2022, MakeUseOf^[5] published an article examining whether the game is a scam, concluding that, "Atlas Earth isn't worth it if you're looking to make quick and easy money. Also, the advertisements the app pushes promising to make you money should be taken with a pinch of salt."

I Just Bought More Land In the Metaverse

On May 11th, 2022, YouTuber ElCamino posted a 3D-rendered music video advertising Atlas Earth, where a man with a mustache resembling that game's marketing associate Derek Anderson, sings a song about buying land in the Metaverse, garnering over 37,000 views in a year (shown below). The video is a reupload of a pre-existing ad for the game, which was first uploaded to an unknown social media page.

On March 28th, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @land_in_the launched, a Twitter page dedicated to posting memes related to Atlas Earth, mainly including variations of the "I Just Bought More Land" video and song. The page is run by Twitter user @TheSillySnail. For example, that day, the account posted the unedited video alone to Twitter, garnering over 4,400 likes in a month. On April 2nd, the account posted^[7] a low quality version of the video that gained over 4,200 likes in two weeks (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/72vYrAnVg7

— I just bought more (@land_in_the) April 2, 2023

On April 15th, Twitter^[8] user @TheKiwiBoy_ posted a screenshot of the video, writing, "This has to be a fucking a fucking ploy by the Atlas Earth PR team no fucking way this shit is getting popular enough for a gimmick account," garnering over 170 likes in three days. On April 17th, Twitter^[9] user @mewhenXD started a thread comparing the Atlas Earth guy to Luigi, garnering over 700 likes in a day. That day, the @land_in_the Twitter^[10] page posted a When She Sucking Your Nuts And You A Gangsta meme, garnering over 1,500 likes in a day (shown below).

Meme Examples

Search Interest

External References