Metaverse Review: Sandbox

What is the platform about?

The Sandbox is a Play-to-Earn, Ethereum, and Polygon-based metaverse published by Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain game maker valued at $5.9B. (Animoca Brands also invested in Axie Infinity, one of the leading blockchain games.)

The Sandbox has been operating since 2012. However, in 2018 they announced to move to the blockchain. And in 2019, with a $2.5M seed funding and a new leadership team, the metaverse reestablished with a new vision for a decentralized world. Since then, its growth has pushed it to a successful Series B fundraise in November 2021 for $93M.

Their vision is to offer an immersive metaverse in which players create virtual worlds and games collaboratively without a central authority. And within its virtual world, anyone can build, own and monetize their gaming experiences using the SAND, the utility and currency token of the platform. The platform establishes digital ownership for its users through NFTs.

No-code tools allow creators to create 3D assets and experiences. However, for creators to host and share their experiences within its community, they’ll need to own or rent LAND. Virtual real estate is one of The Sandbox’s economic pillars like other metaverses.

There is a total of 166,464 LANDs available.

• 10% (10,704) — The Sandbox holds for special events.
• 16% (25,920) — Allocated in reserve for partners, creators, and gamers as rewards.
• 74% (123,840) — Allocated for users.

What makes the platform unique?

The Sandbox is purportedly in Alpha mode. But when you jump into this metaverse, it’s easy to think that this might not be the case. The product is mature in most regards; it’s arguably one of the most mature on the market for a decentralized game. This go-to-market approach is what’s unique about The Sandbox.

The Sandbox shows a masterful execution of its strategy to tackle a three-sided marketplace. The three sides here are users, creators, and partners. The common strategy to trigger an acquisition and retention flywheel for such is to capture two sides first and work on the third after strong traction between the two builds. And that’s what we see here.

On one side, they’ve put a lot of emphasis on their partner program for brands to explore a new channel, metaverse agencies to support builds, and independent studios who want to develop their concepts in their virtual world. The Sandbox offers opportunities in several verticals.

• real estate and home-related
• music, concert & streaming
• fashion & apparel
• art & museums
• professional interactions
• shopping
• social & dating
• automotive
• video games
• sports

These have attracted some of the most significant cultural icons as partners. (You can read more about these partners in the section below.) And with this, The Sandbox has positioned itself as the cool place for users to hang out.

Their creator toolbox, the third of the pillars, is less mature. (At least when compared to Roblox or full-featured game makers like in VRChat.) Experiences created by creators aren’t also openly available for access by registered users yet. And this is by design. Today, The Sandbox has been curating all gameplay into Alpha Seasons, multi-week events with experiences created only by The Sandbox team and select partners.

But that’s the beauty of their timing. The Sandbox is saying to users, hey, look at all this amazing content here right now. Come join. Here are ways that you can also create content now. Get familiar with it because shortly after, you’ll also be able to invite others to your own experiences and monetize your worlds. In this approach, The Sandbox team buys time to find the right moment to start welcoming content in larger volumes.

Why should brands consider it? What makes it relevant for brands to consider? What opportunities are there?

Snoop Dogg, Playboy, Steve Aoki, The Walking Dead, Ubisoft, and Tony Hawk are here. There are 200+ other brands here also. With this list, they’ve attracted 3M+ wallets to register on the platform.

As mentioned, one of its focuses is to establish strong partnerships by giving brands a sandbox to creatively extend their image across the verticals I listed above. They make it easy for those venturing onto this for the first time by making available a list of trusted agencies you can work with.

Some partnerships that I find interesting:

• The South China Morning Post, a leading global news company, aims to bring to the virtual world historic locations from Hong Kong, such as the Kowloon Walled City and Star Ferry.
• Mauer recreated the Berlin Wall and allowed players to destroy it. 50% of proceeds went towards charities on freedom and democracy.
• Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen challenges users to create outstanding new dishes, win competitions, collect recipes and compete for your chance to make it to Head Chef.

There are also some exciting things to look out for on this platform’s pipeline. Expect the Game Maker to have a co-building feature by the end of the year. This feature should empower creators to build worlds with teams and unlock the opportunities that collaboration brings. And, of course, we’re all waiting for the platform to enable sharing of UGC LAND experiences so that users can openly venture into worlds beyond what’s curated by The Sandbox team.

Ratings

Engagement

4 — Users have a real sense of progression through quests and daily tasks while playing unique games and experiences requiring intermediate-level interactions with their environment.

Immersiveness

2 — Only accessible via personal computer.

Social Interactivity

3 — In this Alpha version, users are limited to joining spaces created by Sandbox. However, the ultimate goal of The Sandbox is for user-generated content to outpace curated content. Along with this goal, we can assume richer social engagement and moderation rules.

Centralization

3 — The Sandbox curates experiences in Alpha. Users can create experiences for themselves. The Sandbox aims to launch a DAO in 2022 with voting mechanisms for SAND, LAND, and AVATAR holders. In July 2022, its parent company Animoca Brands also just launched the Open Metaverse Alliance, which strongly signals that The Sandbox is moving more towards a fully decentralized framework.

UGC Creation

3 — Users can create experiences and assets using Game Maker and VoxEdit software. Using the Game Maker software is free for everyone. However, users will need to own or rent some LAND in the Sandbox to publish their game for others to play.

Economics

4 — The SAND token is the currency within this platform. There is an in-game marketplace for assets and LAND. The marketplace extends beyond the platform as well, to others like OpenSea.

Partnerability

5 — A strong partner program allows brands to creatively extend their presence in this virtual world. You’ll also find support for cross-market brand activations.

Want to learn more about other metaverses, find out other reviews in our State of the Metaverse post.

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