You gotta hand it to The Sandbox. When they launched publicly in early 2021, it appeared to be a virtual real estate play, especially when hype pushed their LAND prices through the roof. It wasn’t certain if this blockchain-powered metaverse with all its pixels would survive the ensuing slump. 

Not only has it survived, but with its tight-knit global team committed to the vision of decentralization, an owner in web3 gaming giant Animoca Brands, plus loyal brand partners, The Sandbox has endured and continues to plow forward with their original vision for an open metaverse.

In November, the company moved to open publishing, opening free access to their Game Maker system, empowering creators to use these simple tools to build experiences within The Sandbox. To stimulate this, they launched the $100 million SAND Game Maker Fund, which has the goal of 2,000 new user-generated experiences in 2024. As of today, $SAND, the platform’s utility token, is valued at 0.42 cents, according to CoinMarketCap. 

“Since the original whitepaper, it's been part of our plan to progressively decentralize Sandbox over five years,” Sébastien Borget, the co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox, said to me recently. “To date, we have already introduced the decentralization of the economy with the $SAND token, now in the top 10 of gaming tokens and in the top 100 of cryptocurrencies listed globally. And progressively, we want to give more power, freedom and autonomy to the players and creators who are contributing to the success and the growth of the platform, by spending time on it and contributing with content.”

The DAO treasury will be funded with an initial $25 million worth of $SAND. The roadmap is divided into three phases – the first will onboard eligible voters who own either $SANDor LAND, the virtual plots inside their metaverse. 

Learning lessons from the litany of failed DAOs over the past few years, The Sandbox has put in place an advisory board of trusted partners, plus a core Council which includes Yat Siu, co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands, and Shannon Snow, COO of World of Women, one of the most successful NFT brands to date. Borget sees this infrastructure as critical for the first phase of the DAO rollout to embed the core values of The Sandbox and ensure that voting members understand the ethos. 

“We stand for empowering people to make not just games, but experiences in art, culture, fashion, music, entertainment, architecture,” he said.  “The vision of the metaverse [is] for good, making impact, having real world effects on the economy, as well creating new jobs for people.”

Sandbox users can expect about 60 new gaming experiences when the new season begins toward the end of this year from top brands already on the platform, plus user-generated experiences.  

Community growth is likely to come from Asia, which now makes up 30 percent of The Sandbox’s 5.8 million user accounts. Borget recently visited Vietnam, a booming gaming and blockchain economy. In the coming weeks, announcements will be made on how the company is implementing for further growth in Asia. A South East Asia virtual town hall will be held on 14 June to share these updates.

Read more: The Sandbox’s U.S. Chief Mathieu Nouzareth Wants To Build The Metaverse With You

While Borget is excited, he’s also a bit nervous about The Sandbox’s ambitious vision for a truly decentralized, democratized and open metaverse.  

“Ultimately, I always believe in the greater good,” he said. “From my experience, supporting people and empowering their imagination has proven to always yield ratios that are even better than we expected. It will be beautiful to see how a virtual world can evolve into a digital nation, and become more than what it was initially intended to be. One that is based on what our virtual citizens really want it to become.”

lead image: Sébastien Borget