The Sandbox: Leading metaverse with partners like Snoop Dogg, Gucci, Binance, Atari and more

Blockchain based metaverses are hugely successful and attract millions of people from all over the world. The Sandbox is one of the most famous. In a vast and immersive virtual world, players are equipped with the tools they need to create exciting gaming projects and deploy them on their land. This concept not only allows artists to bring their ideas to life, but also opens up opportunities for them to earn money from their creative projects.

Sandbox is one of the most popular metaverse platforms in the world with investments from Snoop Dogg, Gucci, Binance, Atari, Republic Realm, PwC, HSBC and more.

In this detailed review of The Sandbox metaverse, we will cover all the highlights of the metaverse, its tokenomics, creators, investors, development prospects and much more.

The Sandbox Official Links

• Official website https://www.sandbox.game
• Twitter @TheSandboxGame – over 1 million followers,
• Facebook @TheSandboxGame – over 738K subscribers
• Discord @TheSandboxGame – over 300K participants,
• Instagram @TheSandboxGame – over 183K subscribers,
• YouTube @TheSandboxGame – over 140K subscribers,
• Telegram @TheSandboxGame – over 84K members,
• Twitch @TheSandboxGame – over 30K subscribers

The Sandbox in numbers

• The Sandbox has been operating since 2012. However, in 2018, they announced a move to blockchain led by technology giant Animoca Brands. And in 2019, with $2.5 million in seed funding and a new leadership team, the metaverse was rebuilt with a new vision for a decentralized world.
• A pass to the first alpha version (November 2021) cost about $13,000, in return, owners received $1,000 SAND and 3 NFTs as a gift for completing quests and visiting objects in the game.
• The project has more than 50 partnerships, including with Gucci, Binance, Atari, CoinMarketCap, Gemini, Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, Snoop Dogg and others.
• Sales volume exceeded 160K ETH (about $261k).
• The Metaverse consists of 166464 LANDs.
• More than 22K unique LAND owners in total (NFT distribution-13%, which is low and characterized by low liquidity and centralization among whales).
• The floor price of NFT is about $400.
• On average, recent sales are in the range of 1.4-3 ETH.
• The most expensive LAND sold on July 2, 2021 for 3.65M SAND (approximately $925K at the time of sale).
• The project has already implemented more than 80 diversified games, as well as more than 10 games announced for launch during the coming month,

Information (including exchange rates) is current at the time of writing

What is The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is a virtual metaverse that contains many decentralized land parcels that users can develop, sell and monetize their virtual real estate using various funds. It is one of the few living metaverses based on the Ethereum blockchain available to the public.

The Metaverse consists of 166 464 sections. Inside each lot is a unique creation by the owner of the lot. It can be a game, a social center, or something else that you can think of and build. The Sandbox is based on voxels, which gives it a Minecraft feel. The assets within each experience are separate voxel objects that can be imported from external editors.

While the land sale and much of the ecosystem is still running on the Ethereum blockchain, the project is in the process of migrating to Polygon. They have already moved staking pools to the Polygon network and have encouraged land owners to move their lands as well. On Polygon, the SAND token is known as mSAND.

Who created The Sandbox?

The Sandbox game was created by the developers of Pixowl Inc., a startup founded in 2011. The founders of Sandbox are Arthur Madrid (CEO) and Sebastien Borget (COO).

About 30 specialists work in the staff, including from France, England, USA, Argentina, Japan, India, etc. The company is proud of such multinationality. The creators believe that the diversity of cultures of different countries will have a positive impact on the development of the game.

The Sandbox success story

• The Sandbox has its origins back in 2011 with video game publisher Pixowl, who created SandBox as a regular mobile game. In 2015, a computer version was added, and later a sequel – The Sandbox Evolution.
• Later in 2018, Animoca Brands, a tech giant in the blockchain industry, took the title and moved it to the blockchain and built a giant metaverse where users can use the emerging technology to create virtual assets.
• In 2019, large-scale funding was carried out, smart contracts were launched (audited by CertiK).
• In August 2020, the project was listed on Binance Launchpad, raising $3 million. This was a big step for the project, which aimed to attract more than 2.5 billion gamers from all over the world to the platform. This successful token sale also contributed to the massive adoption and promotion of blockchain games.
• Since 2019-2020, the project has not only been successfully developing, but also firmly established itself in the market, having won the trust of users, showing a capitalization already above $6 billion.
• In November 2021, the platform raised $93 million in a Series B funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. After that, the SAND token took off and updated ATH.
• Then, in November 2021, metaverse also announced its partnership with Adidas, after which its token grew again by 25%, reaching a record high of over $7. Adidas, for their part, also announced this collaboration by tweeting about the development of the so-called “adiVerse”. In addition, the company has acquired a piece of land in the metaverse.
• In addition to large companies, such media personalities and phenomena of our time as Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Smurfs, Deadmaus and Care Bears are also involved in The Sandbox universe, who also own their own plots of land.

Game mechanics in The Sandbox

At the moment, The Sandbox does not have a permanent game to earn opportunities. But when the monetization tools are implemented, every experience has the opportunity to create their own game to earn the mechanic. Be it rewards in the form of tokens, NFTs or other means.

As part of the alpha testing, metaverse is also hosting special events to allow players to experience a range of games and experiences created by Sandbox and their partners. Some players who participate in these events receive Alpha Testing Passes, which are used to receive significant rewards in the form of SAND tokens. At the moment, the third alpha season has been launched.

Ecosystem The Sandbox

The ecosystem of the Sandbox project can be called three solutions on which everything is built:

1. VoxEdit software for creating and animating objects from cubic 3d pixels;
2. Marketplace is a platform for buying and selling in-game assets;
3. Game Maker is a software for creating scenarios for games to be placed on the lands of the project.

VoxEdit

VoxEdit is a free 3D modeling package that allows you to create and animate 3D objects such as human characters, animals, vehicles, tools, and other items. “Voxels”, which are cubic 3D pixels that look like building blocks, can be manipulated with VoxEdit to create new objects that, once created, can be exported to the Sandbox Marketplace and become game assets.

VoxEdit offers three key features:

• Modeling, where artists can design and create 3D voxel versions of a particular design they have in mind for their asset, or import older work done for another game such as Minecraft.
• Animation, with which artists can “customize” and animate different parts of their ASSET and create unique movements for different game scenarios.
• NFT conversion. Once an artist is satisfied with their creation and has tested its in-game interaction, they can convert their ASSET to NFT using the VoxEdit platform. If you have exported your assets to the Sandbox, they will be visible on your profile. You can then share it through the marketplace as a virtual asset on the blockchain.

The Sandbox Marketplace

The Sandbox Marketplace is an NFT marketplace for users to trade in-game assets (ASSETS) in the form of NFTs. These NFTs can be objects, buildings, wearables, and more that can be used in the metaverse. Also, purchased Assets can be included in LAND using Game Maker to create unique games.

For all assets sold on the marketplace, 95% of proceeds go to the seller and 5% go to the Sandbox Creator and Game Maker Fund.

Game Maker

Game Maker is a platform that allows users to create and test their own unique 3D games in the metaverse. This software does not require programming skills. And allows users to create game mechanics by adding created items to them.

Sandbox Creator Fund

The Sandbox Creator Fund is created to develop the talents and abilities of its users in Voxel Art. The goal is to create high-quality ASSETs that will increasingly populate the metaverse. For artists, monetary rewards are provided depending on the quality and complexity of the performance of the work.
The fund launched in 2018 with a starting fund of $2 million. You can’t enter it now. The Foundation is limited to the first 1000 artists who have the opportunity to publish their work at any stage of testing the metaverse and, thereby, the best exposure and the opportunity to stand out from other artists.

Roadmap The Sandbox

According to the project roadmap, in addition to the main further development of gaming tools, in 2022 the team plans to announce new IP addresses and premium NFTs, make more than 1000 games available, and open access to games on consoles. It is also planned to continue regular sales of LAND. The project also aims to develop co-creation of games with friends, and custom scenarios with level 3 programming. Most of these plans have already been implemented.

More than 5000 games are already planned for 2023, and work is also underway on the development of the Sandbox DAO, which in the future will allow participation in the most important decisions on the platform.

The Sandbox Map

The Metaverse consists of a total of 166,464 lands, which are divided into the LAND and the ESTATEs.

1. A standard LAND section, 1×1 in size, is 96 meters long and wide. In the Sandbox universe, 1-meter equals 32x32x32 voxels. There are several types of Real Estate in the game, which differ in size:

• Small – size 3×3, consists of 9 Lands
• Medium – size 6×6, consisting of 36 Lands
• Large – size 12×12, 144 Earths
• X-Large – size 24×24, 576 Lands

2. There are also ESTATEs, which are an amalgamation of several LANDs. They come in several sizes:

• 3×3,
• 6×6,
• 12×12
• 24×24.
  Due to their increased size and, accordingly, increased cost, as a rule, they are used by large brands and companies. This option allows you to place your logos, advertising and other marketing attributes very noticeably and advantageously on the general map of the metaverse.

The metaverse does not have themed districts like Decentraland. But being close to a well-known brand adds value to your land. So, among the famous companies and personalities you can meet here:

• NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club,
• Binance,
• The famous company for the production and publication of computer games Atari,
• One of the largest developers in Asia, Sun Hung Kai Properties,
• Hong Kong’s oldest English-language newspaper South China Morning Post,
• Coin Market Cap,
• Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini,
• Warner Music Group,
• Ubisoft,
• DogeCoin,
• The walking Dead,
• Smurfs,
• Rapper Snoop Dogg,
• DJ Steve Aoki,
• NFT influencer Pranksy.

Tokenomics of The Sandbox

There are three types of tokens used in the metaverse:

1. $SAND is a native game token running on the Ethereum network in the ERC-20 standard. The main currency of the game, used for all transactions.
2. ASSETS are user-created game objects (NFTs) using the ERC-1155 standard, these “objects” are unique and the creators have ownership of them.
3. LANDs are land plots, technically these are also NFT tokens but in the ERC-721 standard. Such land can be bought, sold or leased. Objects and objects are placed on the ground and which are transformed into full-fledged game levels.

SAND utility token

SAND is the internal currency of the metaverse, presented in the form of an ERC-20 token based on the Ethereum blockchain.

Used in 2 ways:

1. This is the currency of payment for land, attributes and other assets in the primary and secondary domestic market. In addition, with SAND, you can pay to participate in some paid games within the metaverse.
2. SAND is a metaverse governance token and the right to participate in the DAO. In the future, the presence of a certain number of coins will be equal to the number of votes on any issues that will be considered by the DAO (from changing the logo to the development priorities of the metaverse).

At the moment, the coin is in the TOP of the best NFT cryptocurrencies for investment. The total issue is 3 billion, of which 1.5 billion is in circulation. At the time of writing, the market capitalization is $1.06 billion. The price of SAND is not constant – it changes. This is influenced by supply, demand, and other market factors. For example, on January 9, 2022, its rate was $4.8, and today it is $0.72.

ASSETs Token

ASSETs are ERC-1155 standard NFTs that artists create as assets and attributes for games and inhabitants of the metaverse on the VoxEdit 3D modeling platform.
After creation, all ASSETs created by artists can be placed on the internal marketplace, sold and, accordingly, earned. The value of each asset depends on its uniqueness, rarity and applicability. By the way, the number of copies to be created, the artist chooses himself when placing.

LAND in The Sandbox

LANDs in The Sandbox are digital real estate owned by a specific player. Users use the land to create games, dioramas, maps, etc. Each Land is a unique NFT of the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-721 standart). Their number is limited, with a total of 166,464 units of Earth available.

Several Lands can be combined into real estate. There is a special type of real estate in the game, which belongs to several owners at once, and is called the District.

You can become the owner of LAND on the official website of The Sandbox using a virtual card. The more large partners surround the Earth, the higher the value of such a site. Owners can rent out their Land to other participants, cooperate with users, providing them with access to their territory.

The main function of LAND is to enable game designers to develop, publish and monetize a digital product. You can also play games created by other members of the platform. At the discretion of the creator, such projects can be paid and free.

Notable owners include: Atari, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Binance, Square Enix, Deadmau5, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the Winklevoss twins, CoinMarketCap, and many more. After buying land, you can fill it with objects or games, it all depends on its owner.

The most expensive LAND sales in The Sandbox

1. The most expensive sale in the history of the project was the LAND 24×24 Estate XL [12,156], which was sold on July 2, 2021 for 3.65M SAND (approximately $925K at the time of sale). At the moment, the site is not built up and is a huge image of CryptoPunk.
2. Land 24×24 Estate [-204,-60] sold on June 07, 2021 for 650,000 SAND (approximately $213K at the time). The site belongs to the world-famous Dogecoin cryptocurrency project.
3. Land 12×12 Estate L [-24,132] sold June 25, 2021 for 525,000 SAND (approximately $99K at the time of sale). The owner is incognito, the 579 logo is located on the entire plot.

The remaining high sales were not taken into account, as they are more like speculative transactions, where at the moment the owner as a result of the transfer of the NFT is metaverse.

How much does LAND cost at The Sandbox?

Initially, in 2018, NFT LANDS sold for about $50. At the moment (September 2023), the floor price of NFT is $400. On average, the latest sales are in the range of $400-$2000.

How and where to buy LAND The Sandbox?

Like any NFT, LAND can be bought on the relevant marketplaces, such as OpenSea. The metaverse also has its own official marketplace where you can buy land for the native SAND currency.

Members can use the marketplace to manage and exchange LAND NFTs that are valued in SAND. Additionally, owners can use the marketplace to buy, sell, and trade ASSETS, clothing, and other in-game products.

How to join The Sandbox?

The easiest way to get started today is with The Sandbox as an investor. LAND prices are almost 200 times their original selling price of $48 a couple of years ago. The $SAND token has also experienced an incredible rebound from the metaverse craze in the current bull market. But the metaverse as a project is not yet fully deployed and launched. We can say that $SAND still has incredible potential.

The second way to get started with metaverse is to become a creator or artist. I would say that this is the best way to get involved in the project. Even with the incredible hype surrounding the Metaverse, the economics of the creators of such Metaverse projects are still ripe for choice. The Sandbox has incredible incentives for artists and game creators thanks to grants offered by the Creator Fund and Game Maker Fund.

How to make money in The Sandbox?

There are several ways to make money in the metaverse:

• Creating gaming opportunities on their LAND and charging players a fee in $SAND for participation in the game. This method is especially effective if the gameplay is of very high quality and/or if it gives players the opportunity to earn a few SAND dollars in the process.
• Renting out the EARTH to other game creators, artists, or players so they can create their own experiences on the EARTH that they can display and monetize. This method provides the owner of the LAND with a stable passive income from the user renting out his LAND.
• To win $SAND by participating in other users’ games and quests.
• To earn money by selling NFTs created, but this opportunity is available only to participants who have received the status of an artist. To do this, you need to send an application to the gaming fund and get a promotion.
• You can make contributions to the liquidity pool and receive your share of the profit, the amount of which depends on the rate. The reward will increase depending on the number of Lands in the wallet from which the bet was made. The Play-to-Earn format of platform games is in the process of being implemented, which will also provide a good monetization option in the future.

Advantages and disadvantages of The Sandbox

The Sandbox is in its infancy, and since the Web3 interface is also in development, the metaverse still has a long way to go. Among other things, there are several problems that prevent her from reaching new heights of success:

• The Sandbox is in its preliminary phase when the economy is unstable and not yet fully mature, despite big names in partners like Snoop Dogg.
• The roadmap suggests that the full implementation of the metaverse will take another couple of years, and before that it will be considered to be in the alpha testing stage.

But given that the entire metaverse industry is in its infancy, Sandbox has definitely done a lot to stay one step ahead of its competitors:

• Availability of decentralized controls. And this means that SAND owners can control politics and manage the metaverse through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).
• The Metaverse offers its players a lucrative way to earn money through various play-to-earn (P2E) aspects that allow everyone to earn lucrative rewards by participating in gameplay. Similarly, you can trade assets created in the metaverse. And this is another profitable method of making a profit, since the assets created are fully owned by the users.
• Another important aspect is the support for cross-platform compatibility, which will allow users to use blockchain technology to use their assets in other applications based on the blockchain system. While the system will take some time to mature, in the future, players will be able to navigate and move their virtual assets with other metaverses and P2E games.
• Much of the platform’s potential lies in its large and expensive tracts of land, which can be monetized through events, workspace rentals, public spaces, and more.

The future of the project

Given the scale of involvement in the project and the participation of big names and brands, the future of The Sandbox is promising.

• Next on the list for The Sandbox appears to be the gradual opening of the Marketplace for public artists to create and publish their ASSETS along with the adoption of the DAO system.
• The Sandbox team is also planning to hold the first virtual concerts.
• Additional events are planned, such as LAND public sales, the launch of several gaming features in LANDS, more NFT partnerships and collaborations, and the launch of occasional events.

Should you invest in The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is one of the fastest growing and most popular metaverses. Companies such as Atari, Binance, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Smurfs, and Square Exis have contributed to The Sandbox by purchasing digital LANDs.

This investment has generated a lot of interest from gamers and many other big companies, despite the fact that the project has only recently released its alpha version. The NFT community sees The Sandbox not as just another blockchain gaming platform, but as a serious investment that can bring significant returns in the future.

But while the metaverse is still in development, reasonable risk is still associated with investing in native $SAND and LAND tokens. Price action depends on the ability of the team to deliver their product and deliver on their promises. We must not forget that the Sandbox metaverse was first founded in 2012 and has been in development for quite some time. However, the team working on the project showed us that they have a lot of potential and they know what they are doing, and if the team manages to get the project to a proper release, the return on investment (ROI) can be solid.

In any case, do your own in-depth analysis and research when investing in NFTs such as LAND, and then make your own decisions.

Opinion of NFTmetria

The Sandbox is an ambitious, albeit unfinished, project. This is one of the biggest potential worlds in the blockchain based metaverse. And what is important – it interested not only ordinary users, but also large companies.

Unlike the traditional gaming system, which focuses on technology and software updates, The Sandbox is aimed at users, it works to empower players: the platform actively develops in-game assets, the sale of virtual land.

Recognition and popularity, as well as sales volumes, make it a contender for leadership not only in its sector, but also challenges the traditional gaming system, which is good news. The Metaverse is doing everything to become a new industry standard and a full-fledged decentralized ecosystem.