The Sandbox — Metaverse Land Analysis — Diamond Lands
“In many ways, the concept of LAND ownership in The Sandbox metaverse is very much like LAND ownership in the physical world. The mantra of “location, location, location” is strong. Be where everyone wants to be, and your real estate investment will pay off.” Transportation and Portals. — The Sandbox Gitbook
The Diamond Lands Matrix and Metaverse Investment Series
The Diamond Lands Metaverse Investment Analysis Series is a series of deep analytical dives into the highest-ranking metaverses using our diamond matrix — our unique, data-driven, analytical investment tool explicitly designed to assess and filter metaverse land projects. Our proprietary algorithm analyzes over 80 metrics from 6 main categories and then applies a score to each category.
We used this analysis to inform the investment strategy for our upcoming Diamond Sandbox Investment Pool — an exclusive strategy offering diversification of multiple diamond sandbox plots. Please see the ‘How to Invest’ section for more info.
The Sandbox Overview
The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain. Developed by Pixowl Inc and part of Animoca brands, The Sandbox aims to disrupt existing games such as Minecraft and Roblox by providing creators and players with true ownership of their assets through NFTs.
The Sandbox exists as 166,464 plots of land on a digital map. Land is the epicenter of the Sandbox metaverse. Each parcel of land is a unique NFT and users can acquire land to deploy games, assets and develop experiences
The Sandbox — Overall Diamond Score= 98%
Land & Real Estate Fundamentals
Many factors used to value land in the physical world translate to the virtual world. Factors such as proximity to key sites, footfall, land size and the ability to develop all impact land value and the potential risk/reward of the investment
Diamond Rating = 5/5
Land is fundamental to the @TheSandboxGame namely due to the fact that developers need plots to publish experiences. The benefits of scale, branding, footfall and portals make it possible to identify the diamond locations where ‘everyone will want to be’ — and is why The Sandbox’s Land & Real Estate fundamentals score so highly within our matrix.
Market evidence already confirms buyer appetite and thus validates a land banking strategy. In 2021 sandbox land generated over $350 million, 80% of which occurred in the final quarter of the year. Of the 2021 land sales, the Snoop Dogg partnered wave 1 and 2 sales emphasised the importance of location and partnerships in creating value, with 387 land sales generating 21% ($7.9 million) of the Sandbox’s 2021 primary land sales volume (and significantly more in the secondary market) The State of The Sandbox Q4 2021 — Messari.
The quality of the Sandbox partnerships and the potential for future experiences are major drivers of land price and sales volume. The Sandbox themselves, strong brands, developers and large communities such as Atari, Adidas, Walking Dead land, Rollercoaster Tycoon are all developing experiences that will become hotspots of activity. The use of the Sandbox Map, alongside sales data, make it possible to identify prime suburbs and future ‘hot’ neighbourhoods where these large and successful experiences are most likely create footfall and drive value. Conversely, there are areas of the map with perceived weaker partners which is already being reflected in the sales data.
Estates exist in The Sandbox as 3x3, 6x6, 12x12 and 24x24 plots and are able to be purchased ‘as is’, or formed by assembling individual plots. What are Estates? — The Sandbox Gitbook. Our analyses have shown that the larger the estate, the more likely it is to combine larger and or multiple experiences alongside portals, which will allow for travel to other parts of the map. In addition, The Sandbox will allow players to jump to and from key experiences on adjacent lands thus increasing footfall and likely value of those lands. Transportation and Portals. — The Sandbox Gitbook.
Estates currently have a stronger marketing ability on the map through branding, reinforcing the notion that proximity matters as branded, high footfall, plots are more likely to also drive footfall to their neighbours. Questions remain about the marketability of individual plots given their lack of branding, and the ability of plots further from branded experiences and of those neighbouring an underdeveloped plot to generate footfall. All of this supports the thesis that the Diamond Lands — those which will generate the greatest value and footfall once the game goes live — are likely to be those in prime suburbs neighbouring large key estates with successful experiences.
Recent land sales suggest that economies of scale exist with the potential for larger estates ie 6x6 and 12x12 to be broken up and sold profitably on a per plot basis.
With a significant amount of time until the game goes live and 38% of all lands yet to be released, many excellent buying opportunities still exist through primary and secondary land sales. The secondary market on Opensea is very active, with secondary sales growing 1,685% from Q3 to Q4 in 2021. The State of The Sandbox Q4 2021 — Messari. For those lucky enough to mint lands in quality suburbs, there is an immediate resale premium, however, we note weaker perceived suburbs and partner areas have not fetched such premiums. Therefore in-depth research of the partners in a land sale is advised.
At the time of writing, there is no real clarity on a land rental system for passive yield, however, The Sandbox team have made it clear that landowners will be able to collect rental yields from other creators who may wish to develop experiences. Buying, Selling and Renting Land — The Sandbox Gitbook
Revenue, Trade & Tokenomics
Active pre-sale, mint, and secondary markets provide an indication of market sentiment and potential exit liquidity at the end of the fund. Strong tokenomics with well-devised vesting schedules provide insight into the project’s long term potential
Diamond Rating = 4.5/5
With $44 million in land sales in February 2022 alone, it’s clear Sandbox land is a valuable asset as developers and communities flock to the map to build experiences and event spaces ahead of a Q4 2022 launch. Data from @Metametriks shows @TheSandboxGame is a consistent leader in land sales and secondary market trading with the average price per parcel increasing from $473 in December 2019 to an incredible $9835 at its peak in January 2022. With 20k unique land owners and a total sales $ volume of $538 million, Sandbox land is one of the most valuable and most actively traded land assets in the metaverse. $SAND is the ERC-20 token used in @TheSandBox game as the basis for all transactions and interactions within the ecosystem. Originally introduced through the Binance Launchpad @ $0.0083 per token after a seed sale selling 17% of total supply at $0.0036 per token with token vesting schedules lasting 5 years through until end of 2024. $SAND is used in multiple ways including game access, governance, staking, 95% of all in game sales revenue will go to the seller, with 5% going through their fee structure to support developer communities building on The Sandbox platform & to stakers. The_Sandbox_Whitepaper (August 2020) v2.
Game-Play & Accessibility
Engaging game-play, continued development, play to earn mechanics, VR/AR compatibility, in-game communication and travel, and ease of on-ramp are some of the factors assessed to ascertain overall Metaverse appeal and longevity
Diamond Rating = 4.5/5
The Sandbox game is an experience-led environment, where players can choose games and experiences that spark their interest either in single-player or multiplayer. A key to gameplay is a lobby driven point of entry. Similar to large towns or cities in MMORPGs, these meeting points become thriving social hubs where players join parties, meet new people, and identify where to spend their time next.
The type of game or experiences being developed demonstrates the breadth of opportunity in an open environment such as the Sandbox, with Alpha Pass 2 currently showcasing a wide array of experiences from a walk through Hong Kong’s Star Ferry pier developed by South China Morning, a hack and slash dungeon adventure in Meta Dungeon, to a live music event with DJ Blond:ish.
The Sandbox Alpha Season 2. More experiences… | by The Sandbox | The Sandbox | Feb, 2022 | Medium
The final gaming experience within the Sandbox is still in development, but the Alpha Pass 2 has given everyone the most complete view to date on how you can engage in different experiences and games across the Sandbox map. In addition to both free to play and play to earn games, in game chat will likely be included between players and land owners. The Sandbox is to launch on Mobile in Q4 2022, making the platform widely accessible. Currently, no announcement for has been made for VR, but given that Sandbox is an open SDK there is the possibility for VR game worlds in future.
Community
Community strength is measured across community leadership, community size & engagement, and community growth to assess developer listening systems, community engagement, and overall growth & trust in future development
Diamond Rating = 4.5/5
The Sandbox team is focused on creating a system that enables a community of creators to craft, play, trade and share with no central control. That mission drives two key pillars of the community; Players and Creators. As with mainstream gaming and the broader crypto space, Discord is the primary channel of engagement for the Sandbox community. With approximately 300k community members, the Sandbox Discord is second only to Axie Infinity in terms of community size in the blockchain gaming space and rivals some of the largest traditional gaming Discord communities which shows the strength of the brand and trust in development.
The Sandbox team have used their Alpha gaming test events to generate energy, provide insights into the desired end state of the gaming experience, and to showcase community game development alongside studios and larger IP experiences. With 2 million registered users for Alpha Pass season 2 in March (The Sandbox metaverse hits 2M users, begins K-pop partnership (cointelegraph.com). It’s clear The Sandbox community is ready to dive in and experience the Sandbox Game. Whilst 2 million registered users is a hugely impressive start, the opportunity for scale and adoption is still significant; Roblox for example generates c120 million monthly active users and at its peak 35 million daily active users. Roblox Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022) — Business of Apps
For creators, the clear value proposition for the Sandbox game is in true ownership and value generation; all asset sales on the Sandbox marketplace return 95% of the sale price to the owner/creator. Again in comparison with Roblox; in 2017 Roblox had 35 million users and generated $30million USD in developer revenue. With 2 million registered users for Alpha Pass season 2, the Sandbox is currently generating $250k per week in asset sales — as annualized figure this shows the Sandbox is already generating 40% of developer revenue with 6% of the registered users. The Sandbox ASSETS NFT statistics (nft-stats.com)
The Sandbox team are supporting the Voxel creator community through their VoxEdit platform and their Voxel artist developer fund: Voxel Artists Creator Fund | The Sandbox 3D, and through their free to use GameMaker no code platform to develop and deploy experiences in the Sandbox metaverse again through a $1bn creator fund: The Game Maker Fund — The Sandbox (gitbook.io).
Removing barriers to entry on development and asset creation are key drivers to building a thriving creator community, and it’s clear the Sandbox team see the opportunity hear with such significant creator fund reserves for artists and developers to apply for.
Developer Profile & Investors
A trusted team is important and we look for projects with strong teams who deliver innovation over a long time frame. We place value in teams with strong gaming and tech foundations, with visible, interactive leaders and reputable investor backing
Diamond Rating = 5/5
Developed by PIXOWL INC, the Sandbox is built on strong foundations; the original Sandbox, a mobile game launched in 2007, has generated a huge following with over 40 million mobile downloads to date alongside solid reviews: The Sandbox for iPhone/iPad Reviews — Metacritic. Since being acquired by Animoca Brands, PIXOWL have focused on developing the Sandbox in to the premier metaverse destination for developers, communities, and users.
The Sandbox is a world where players can build and own gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain. These experiences can then be monetized through NFT sales and Play-to-Earn mechanics. With top tier advisors in @Ed_Fries & @ysiu, COO @borgetsebastien and The Sandbox team are leading the way on blockchain gaming innovation with significant interest from investors across technology and gaming.
Gaming giant @SquareEnix invested in The Sandbox in 2019 during a $2.01 million investment round Gaming giant Square Enix invests in Ethereum-based Sandbox — Decrypt and have since announced the revival of their Dungeon Siege IP through The Sandbox! (More on that later…) In November 2021 @SoftBank_Group led a $93 million investment round through their Vision 2 investment fund, the first blockchain investment for the fund: SoftBank invests $93M in The Sandbox’s ‘metaverse’ game | VentureBeat
COO @borgetsebastien is a visible leader in the blockchain gaming space, recently voted #4 in CoinTelegraph’s CTTop100 influential figures list Sebastien Borget: Co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox | #4 | Cointelegraph Top 100 and has surrounded himself with a high performing team that has earned the trust of their community & investors.
Roadmap
Clear deliverables, a path to full deployment and a history of meeting deadlines are key investment fundamentals assessed by the matrix. Specifically, project deliverables such as land sales and gameplay launches are assessed for timing and execution thus far
Diamond Rating = 5/5
Since Sandbox Land pre-sales in 2019, the Sandbox team have consistently delivered on a quarterly release schedule across the Sandbox game world, Game Editor, and Voxel Edit voxel editor. With Game Editor, Voxel Editor, and the Sandbox Game officially launching their 1.0 versions Q4’20 — Q1’21.
The Sandbox team have used frequent land sales and partnership announcements to build interest and energy in the Sandbox community. Their Alpha season 1, and recent Alpha season 2 have been key development milestones publicly showcasing how the finished product could look. The roadmap is clearly published across a quarterly release schedule until Q4 2022 with other significant milestone & events outlines for 2023 and beyond: The Sandbox Game — User — Generated Crypto & Blockchain Games
How to Invest
Diamond Lands will implement a series of decentralised pools and centralised funds deploying our exclusive strategies in the highest ranking metaverse games and projects. Our first pool — Diamond Sandbox 1 — offers investors the opportunity to diversify into multiple diamond locations within the Sandbox Metaverse through an automated and decentralised investment process run in collaboration with the Digital Landowners Society. The pool will be live in early April 2021. To be considered for early whitelist access to the DS1 pool, please complete this form and follow us on Twitter for updates. Note — all whitelisted addresses will also be whitelisted for future pools.
DiamondLands.io
The metaverse real estate opportunity has been likened to buying in Manhattan back in the 1800s. But what if you could go a step further. What if you were able to own on Upper 5th, 57th Street, Park Avenue or around Central Park?
Diamond Lands is on a mission to find the metaverse equivalents of these rare diamonds and make them accessible to all categories of investors. Diamond Lands is creating a series of exclusive investment strategies, all targeting a new rare category of prime lands — Diamond Lands — within the highest ranking metaverses as ranked by our proprietary Diamond Matrix.
