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Who owns your virtual tour? The Zillow and Matterport lesson

Something happened in 2025 that should concern any business with a virtual tour.

Thousands of property listings lost their 3D tours in a single day. Not because anything broke. Because two companies did not agree.

The question this raises is not technical. It is contractual. What exactly are you buying when you buy a tour?

What happened

In February 2025 CoStar completed its acquisition of Matterport, the best known 3D tour platform, for 1.6 billion dollars.

In October 2025 Zillow removed every Matterport tour from its listings after CoStar declined to renew the connectivity agreement. The Real Deal was among those who reported it.

The agents had done nothing wrong. They paid, delivered, published. And one day the content was no longer there.

The three questions to ask before commissioning

1. Who holds the original files? Not the link. The files. If the answer is "we keep them", ask what happens if you end the relationship.

2. Where is it hosted and who pays? One off cost or monthly subscription? If it is a subscription, the tour is not an asset. It is rent.

3. What happens if the platform closes or changes policy? That is no longer a hypothetical question. It has already happened.

None of these questions is hostile. Very few people ask them beforehand, and quite a few ask them afterwards.

How we handle it

Our tours are hosted on our own domain, as files that exist and function independently of third party subscriptions.

That is not necessarily cheaper. It is, however, yours.

If we stopped working together tomorrow, the tour keeps working and can be moved. We think that is how it should be, because you paid for a result, not for access to one.

#Ιδιοκτησία, #Matterport, #Πλατφόρμες

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