The Sandbox metaverse platform launched its Alpha Season 3 on Wednesday with 90 experiences and 100 hours of available gameplay.
Over 10 weeks, the company is looking to attract half a million users to participate in the season, Chief Operations Officer Sébastien Borget said in a conference call with reporters. The alpha season closes on Nov. 1.
“We don’t want to be too optimistic, because, well, this is almost a year after the metaverse has become mainstream,” Borget said.
From March to early April, about 340,000 players took part in 35 experiences during the Sandbox’s second alpha season, Borget said.
The new season marks the most experiences available to date in the virtual world and includes games and content from 22 celebrities and brands such as The Walking Dead, DJ Steve Aoki, Warner Music, and Snoop Dogg.
Some experiences include an Aoki-themed parkour maze, a puzzle game centered around the NFT collection World of Women, and a demo of an apocalyptic survival game called You’re a Big Boy Now.
In an effort to increase interoperability throughout the larger crypto and NFT community, the company is letting participants use any NFT they own from 13 collections as their avatar in the game, including the most popular collection, the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Hong Kong–based Web3 investing behemoth Animoca Brands, is one of the most popular metaverse platforms despite still being in development. But the recent crypto downturn has taken a toll on the company as well as others in the crypto and metaverse space. The bear market has pushed the Sandbox’s native token, SAND, down 82% since the start of the year and more than 87% from its peak at the end of November, according to CoinMarketCap.
The platform rode the wave of metaverse hype last year that was in part spurred by Facebook’s rebrand to Meta in October. The increased attention led to a metaverse land grab, of which the Sandbox has been a major benefactor. Borget said it has 22,000 unique land owners, 35% of whom participated in its alpha season two in March.
While metaverse excitement has waned, Borget said he hopes that the Sandbox’s newest alpha season will help bring more attention and users to the platform during a downtime for crypto.
“There’s been a different phase of users who are entering Sandbox,” he added, “so maybe less hype in general, but the quality of users we’re seeing is definitely higher.”
(This story has been updated to reflect that the Sandbox, which originally estimated 60% of unique land users joined alpha season two, has adjusted that figure to 35%.)
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FAQs
After launching in into alpha in November last year, The Sandbox now boasts 1,000 user-generated experiences and over 5.7 million connected user accounts with crypto wallets. Furthermore, a mobile version of the decentralized metaverse is also in development and is expected to launch in 2025.
What is The Sandbox metaverse platform? ›
What is the Sandbox Metaverse? Sandbox is a decentralized virtual gaming world built on Blockchain technology. It allows players to buy, sell, and create digital assets, and consists of lands that are represented as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum Blockchain.
Who is Sandbox metaverse competitor? ›
The Sandbox's most significant competitor in the cryptocurrency market is Decentraland. In many ways, Decentraland (MANA) is very similar to The Sandbox (SAND). It is also a decentralized virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain.
What is the prediction for the sand metaverse? ›
The Sandbox's current price is $ 0.254584. According to our Sandbox price prediction, the token's value will surpass $0.79 by 2024. Our SAND price forecast for 2025 suggests it could reach a maximum of $2.34. The Sandbox (SAND) price prediction for 2030 indicates the crypto might hit $16.87.
How many people actually use the metaverse? ›
General Stats. As of 2024, Metaverse has more than 600 million active users worldwide. 80% of metaverse users to date, are younger than 16.
Do people still use The Sandbox? ›
Empowering the creator community
The Sandbox has more than five million registered users. The Sandbox continues to empower its creator community through interactive programs such as Game Jam contests, attracting over 2,500 participants in 2024 alone.
Who is the owner of The Sandbox? ›
The Sandbox was founded as Pixowl in May 2011 by game designer Adrien Duermaël and entrepreneurs Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget.
Is The Sandbox legit? ›
The Sandbox, a rising star in the metaverse ecosystem, positions itself as a play-to-earn virtual world where players can own, build and monetize virtual assets and gaming experiences. The project has partnered with many influencers, brands, and artists, the likes of which include Snoop Dogg, Atari, and Deadmau5.
How do you earn money in sandbox metaverse? ›
The Sandbox utilizes a play-to-earn (P2E) model that rewards you for participating and contributing to the metaverse. You can earn SAND by creating and selling ASSETS and LAND, playing games, completing quests, or participating in events.
Who invested in Sandbox? ›
The Sandbox, a metaverse project by Animoca Brands, has raised US$20 million in a funding round, boosting the company's valuation to a US$1 billion cap. The round was led by Kingsway Capital and Animoca Brands, with investments from LG Tech Ventures and True Global Ventures.
In 2022, The Sandbox looked to raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation. The Sandbox's native token SAND rose 4.5% after the funding round was announced, its market cap is now $1.1 billion, per CoinDesk data.
Who is Sandbox partnered with? ›
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Cut the Rope, Tony Hawk, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Snoop ...
Will Sandbox reach $100? ›
For SAND to go as high as $100, it will require significant levels of adoption. From current Sandbox price prediction, we think it is unrealistic and far-fetched for Sandbox to reach $100. But we do believe that SAND coin can reach $10.
Will Sandbox ever recover? ›
The all-time high is still a long way off. However, analysts do expect The Sandbox to start a cautious recovery. Throughout the year, the price is projected to trend upward. In September the price will reach €0.2300 and by December, it is expected to reach €0.5600 euros.
How much is a sandbox worth? ›
The live The Sandbox price today is $0.255109 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $31,274,897 USD. We update our SAND to USD price in real-time. The Sandbox is down 1.71% in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #98, with a live market cap of $595,994,353 USD.
Which metaverse platform has the most users? ›
Roblox. Roblox is a social gaming platform where users can create and play their own games. The platform has over 200 million active users, making it one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world. Roblox is often referred to as the pioneer of the metaverse.
How many monthly active players does Sandbox have? ›
The Sandbox, a decentralized virtual world boasting over 27,000 landowners in its alpha phase, now hosts nearly 700 live player-created games with 50,000-100,000 monthly active users.
How many people play Universe Sandbox? ›
Universe Sandbox
| Month | Avg. Players | Peak Players |
|---|
| Last 30 Days | 304.9 | 574 |
| August 2024 | 294.7 | 449 |
| July 2024 | 315.9 | 440 |
| June 2024 | 340.7 | 526 |
94 more rowsFor now, Sandbox VR operates in over 46 global locations, 18 of which launched in the last 19 months. It has also opened franchising opportunities in the US and internationally.
