Terra Virtua was one of the first platforms to sell officially licensed digital collectibles that owners could view in 3D and augmented reality. This guide explains what Terra Virtua did, how it changed, and how to build a licensed 3D collectibles marketplace today.
Terra Virtua has no link to the Terra (LUNA) blockchain, whose UST stablecoin collapsed in May 2022, although the two names are often confused in search results.
What Terra Virtua was
Terra Virtua sold collectibles tied to film, TV and music brands under license, and each collectible was a 3D model, not only a flat image. Owners could place their items in a personal virtual room and view them in augmented reality on a phone.
The project changed direction several times:
- Collectibles app. The first product was a licensed collectibles app with a 3D viewer.
- Platform token. The TVK token paid for purchases and rewards on the platform.
- Metaverse. During the 2021 metaverse trend, the product grew into a virtual world with land.
- Rebrand. Terra Virtua renamed itself Virtua in 2022.
- Own blockchain. The Virtua team then launched Vanar, an EVM-compatible layer 1 chain, and holders swapped TVK for the new VANRY token.
Each change followed the popular market theme of that time, and collectors found it harder to tell whether they were backing a collectibles business, a game or a blockchain. A small team that builds a collectibles business, a game and a blockchain at the same time has less time for each one.
How a licensed 3D collectibles marketplace works
- Secure the IP rights. The license agreement sets the characters or scenes you can sell, edition sizes, territories, approval steps and revenue share, and this commercial work comes before any engineering.
- Produce the assets. 3D artists create the models, plus 2D renders and animations, and the licensor usually approves each asset. The glTF format (and its binary form GLB) works for web viewers and Android AR.
- Mint and drop. Mint editions as ERC-1155 tokens, or as ERC-721 tokens for one-of-a-kind items, and sell them in timed drops, packs or blind boxes.
- Display. Owners view collectibles in a web or mobile 3D viewer, in AR mode or in a virtual room.
- Trade. Owners list and sell on a secondary marketplace, and each sale pays a royalty to the platform and the licensor.
The NFT marketplace development guide explains listings, offers and settlement, and this page covers what changes for licensed 3D collectibles.
Features a Terra Virtua-style platform needs
- Edition management. Record serial numbers, rarity tiers and hard supply caps on-chain.
- Licensor dashboard. Rights holders see sales reports and royalty statements and approve assets.
- Royalties on your own marketplace. EIP-2981 only reports a royalty amount, and other marketplaces decide whether to pay it. Many licensed platforms therefore keep trading on their own marketplace, or restrict transfers, so licensors get paid.
- 3D viewer and AR. Build the web viewer with three.js or Babylon.js, and add AR through WebXR, Apple's AR Quick Look with USDZ files, and Android's Scene Viewer with glTF files.
- Custodial or embedded wallets. Most fans of a film brand will not install a browser wallet extension.
- Territory and age controls. Licenses often limit the countries where items can be sold.
Revenue streams
The platform earns money in three main ways: it shares first-sale revenue with licensors, it keeps a trading fee on each resale, and it shares a royalty on that resale with the licensor. Some platforms add minting fees for creators, paid placement for drops, or advertising.
A platform token as a revenue source ties the business to a speculative asset and raises securities questions, and for loyalty rewards, points that users cannot sell carry less risk than a token.
Chain and stack choices
Licensed collectibles sell in high volume at moderate prices, so low fees matter, and common choices are Ethereum layer 2 networks, Polygon PoS and other low-fee EVM chains.
Virtua's team built its own chain, but a dedicated chain is worth its running costs only when it has very large transaction volume and other apps also use it, so most collectibles platforms deploy on an existing network.
Store metadata and model files on IPFS or Arweave, so each collectible still loads if the platform's servers go offline. The metaverse art gallery guide covers 3D display spaces, and the Nifty Gateway guide covers a drop-based model with custodial accounts.
Team, timeline and cost
The figures in this section are estimates, not quotes. A first version with drops, a marketplace, a 3D viewer with AR, embedded wallets, card checkout and a licensor dashboard takes a team of five to seven people four to six months, plus contract audits.
License advances and 3D production can cost more than the software. Demand for licensed NFT collectibles is much lower than in 2021, so test the business with one licensor and one drop before you build a virtual world for the collectibles.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to Terra Virtua?
Terra Virtua renamed itself Virtua in 2022, and the Virtua team later launched Vanar, its own layer 1 blockchain, and swapped the TVK token for VANRY.
Is Terra Virtua the same as Terra Luna?
No. Terra Virtua was a digital collectibles company. Terra (LUNA) was an unrelated blockchain, and its UST stablecoin collapsed in May 2022.
Do I need my own token to run this kind of marketplace?
No. Card payments and stablecoins cover purchases, and a token adds legal and market risk, and collectibles work without one.
What file formats do 3D NFT collectibles use?
Web viewers and Android AR use glTF or GLB files, and Apple's AR Quick Look uses USDZ files. Thumbnails and marketplaces that cannot show 3D use PNG images or MP4 renders.