Wednesday W.O.W - The Sandbox (#1 Metaverse Virtual World 2023)
[5min read] Your mid-week bite sized treat on emerging tech and our journey to the Metaverse. Today, learn about the biggest & most developed virtual world experience platform and its 2023 roadmap.
A nibble of knowledge in your inbox every Wednesday with a simple format:
🇼 What the technology is
🇴 Objective(s) - what is it trying to achieve, with some examples
🇼 Why it is important to users as well as businesses & brands.
This is week 19 of the 520 weeks of writing I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
What is The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is the biggest and most developed virtual world experience platform. It’s not “the Metaverse” but could be described as a “metaverse experience”. Regardless, it gives us a flavour of what the emerging Metaverse will offer.
It’s a full virtual world and economy where businesses and individuals can build, own, and monetize various events, shopping and gaming experiences. Users can create digital assets in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) using the platform's Game Maker tool and upload them to the marketplace.
Built on the popular and secure Ethereum blockchain, the platform uses the utility token SAND to facilitate transactions, which can be earned or purchased by users.
LANDS are pieces of digital real estate in The Sandbox metaverse that users can buy to build experiences on. Multiple LANDS can be combined to form an ESTATE.
Just a few weeks ago, The Sandbox formed a collaboration with Saudi Arabia for a major national metaverse project. This partnership strengthens Sandbox's position as the leading metaverse project in 2023, with over 400 partners in its arsenal, including big names such as Ubisoft, Gucci, Time & Adidas.
Time out. Why is it so….blocky?
The truth is that this platform has prioritised go-to-market functionality over a hyper-realistic immersive 3D interface.
The current reality of hardware, networking, and computer power limitations means that a simple, voxel-based world allows for maximum concurrency (lots of people interacting at once) and maximum accessibility (all you need is a browser).
Let’s continue…
Objectives of Sandbox?
#1: Foster a Creators Economy aligned with Web3 principles.
The platform is built on the principles of decentralization, allowing users to initiate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain while transaction gas fees are paid by the platform, optimising the overall user experience. Users can log in several ways, one is via a digital wallet making it permissionless.
The Sandbox allows users to create, own, and monetize their own gaming experiences and digital assets. The use of NFTs and blockchain technology ensures that digital assets are unique, scarce, and easily transferable, allowing for a decentralised and open marketplace. True ownership means you can sell your NFTs and SAND tokens on the secondary market (off Sandbox) for real dollars.
The Foundation behind The Sandbox supports the ecosystem by contributing to the growth of awareness about NFTs, the Metaverse, and $SAND, and by offering grants to incentivise high-quality content and game production.
The platform also supports local community managers to grow awareness around the globe about The Sandbox, NFTs, and blockchain gaming via their Community Rewards and Ambassadors program, further promoting a decentralized and open community.
#2 Leverage partnerships to onboard the masses:
2022 saw the number of partners double to over 700, and several new initiatives were launched, such as the Sandbox Partners Program, which offers resources and support to agencies and studios. Over $12 million was also allocated to independent studios through the Game Maker Fund, with the aim of promoting creativity and entertainment.
The Sandbox has seen a significant increase in the number of agencies and studios onboarding brands through Web3 strategy, asset and experience creation, and marketing activations. There are now over 300 agencies and studios onboard in The Sandbox, up more than 4X over the past 12 months. Content is what will continue to drive users into the metaverse, and this content is now being created by a diversity of builders across 20+ countries 🗺️.
A diverse and thriving ecosystem will drive more adoption and usage of digital assets and benefit the creators and users who contribute to the making of this virtual world. They remain dedicated to empowering the creator generation to build the open metaverse based on true digital ownership of their assets.
Why will Sandbox most likely impact the future of the Metaverse?
In 2023 and beyond, the Sandbox team is committed to continuing to build a thriving ecosystem that empowers creators to build a true open Metaverse. This is the opposite of the closed and centralised Metaverse the likes of Meta/Facebook are trying to make.
The Sandbox are actively growing their grassroots userbase of creators while working to match brands' needs with agencies’ expertise, courting new brands and IPs to join the Sandbox. Additionally, new vertical and regional LAND sales will be launched, with even more flagship neighbourhoods based around cultural and geographical affinities, to attract a diversity of builders across 20+ countries.
In summary, the way that The Sandbox focuses on user-generated content and monetisation aligns with the trend towards play-to-earn and the metaverse's potential for a new creator economy. Ethereum provides decentralised, permissionless & transparent rails for true ownership of digital assets. Overall the platform creates a unique opportunity for gamers, content creators, and investors to explore the potential of creating value in the emerging Metaverse.
Bonus section: Case studies
A selection of short clips to give you an idea of how platforms like the Sandbox can be so transformative across so many layers of society and culture:
Art:
Sport:
Music:
Social, Gender & Climate Justice:
Gaming:
If you are interested in building an experience within The Sandbox, I have a partnership with the biggest builder in the space. It’s one of the (many) consulting services I offer, reach out to me at https://johnsonandhunt.com/reach-out