The Sandbox maps out Greater China strategy for 2023

The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, has outlined plans for the growing interest of the metaverse in China by prioritising education opportunities in schools and universities. 

This comes as part of its plans for the continued growth in Asia including fostering the development of 40+ partners local ecosystem, empowering more user-generated content with updated Game Maker, collaborating with 17+ local educational institutions, and onboarding 3 new creative studios and metaverse builders to work with more than 400 brands that have already acquired LAND in its virtual world creation platform.

To help meet this goal, several top ranked tertiary institutes including HKDI (Hong Kong Design Institute) and HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) are preparing STEAM related learning experiences in The Sandbox. 

By Q3 2023, virtual LAND owners and creators will gain access to more streamlined content management. By empowering them with improved versions of easy-to-use tools such as Game Maker and VoxEdit, The Sandbox anticipates the development of a wider variety of content and immersive metaverse experiences.

The third major theme for The Sandbox in 2023 involves developing an ecosystem for its open metaverse platform. Metaverse agencies including Collectiv from Hong Kong, 01a1 from Shanghai, and TWCC from Taiwan have been certified to support the development of experiences for The Sandbox’s brand partners, joining 17 metaverse builders that are already established in Greater China. The Sandbox will launch multiple new experiences in mid-April including PwC Hong Kong, Hinsland, Mamoru Exchange and Bored Mummy Waking Up. 

“Today we are sharing our journey into the metaverse with more than 40 pioneering brands and welcoming new companies to join in our success,” said Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox. “This momentum supports Hong Kong’s forward-thinking approach to embracing new technologies and showcases its role as a global hub for Web3 and metaverse development.”

Furthermore, its partnership with major Hong Kong organisations such as PCCW-HKT, MTR, HKDI and HKUST provides an important seal of approval for The Sandbox, as the metaverse keeps diversifying into new fields such as culture, education, design and art, said Borget.

Since November 2022, LAND sales such as Voxel Madness, California Dreamin’, Galleria, and K-verse have sold out within 24 hours. Avatar NFT sales such as Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, Madballs, and Rabbids Lunar New Year Collection have also proved extremely popular, selling out in just over two hours. 

The Sandbox is getting ready to launch further LAND sales in Q2 of this year, including a development called “Mega City 3”, which follows Mega City 1 & 2, that together sold out a total of 2,000+ LANDS, and which will feature several partners across the Greater China region.

“Asia remains the engine for growth in the metaverse and building user value is key for long lasting success,” said Erich Wong, head of growth (Hong Kong) for The Sandbox in Greater China. “Despite recent crypto winter conditions, we have steadily built partnerships in the Hong Kong SAR while aligning with the Hong Kong government’s development plans for virtual assets. Most recently, well-known local brands such as MTR and PCCW-HKT have come on board and cemented The Sandbox’s role as the premier metaverse presence in the region.”

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