Sandbox founder Sebastian Borget has described the metaverse race as a ‘marathon of many sprints,’ as the industry moves beyond the hype cycle to build real value.
Borget remains bullish on the sector and sees opportunities for AI to play its role in building the metaverse stronger, better, and faster.
Raising funds
In November 2021, during the height of metaverse mania, Sandbox raised $93 million at an undisclosed valuation. Today Borget and the company he leads must contend with more challenging macroeconomic conditions, as well as the new technology hype trend – AI.
But Borget remains bullish despite tech’s shifting focus. The co-founder and COO is confident that the company can raise more capital if required, though it may take a little longer given current market conditions.
“Running the Sandbox is like a long marathon of many sprints,” an unfazed Borget told Forbes last week.
Borget firmly believes that the metaverse is poised to become a multi-billion dollar sector. Multiple industries are now finding real value in the metaverse and metaverse-related products, extracting profits from their forays into the virtual plane. As Borget sees it, this augurs well for Sandbox.
“We’ve been very attached to showing concretely what is possible in the metaverse as early as possible. We’ve showcased that it’s not just about gaming, but a new format of entertainment that lies between social interaction and gamification,” said Borget.
“And we’re going to showcase that the Sandbox is resilient and not depending on tech or crypto market crash,” he added.
🔷 @BBC is joining The Sandbox! 🔷
In partnership with @RealityPlusWeb3, favorite brands like @BBC_TopGear and @DoctorWho_BBCA will be bringing immersive new experiences to our community playing around the world! 🌐https://t.co/mpAPLj3ru5
— The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) May 25, 2023
That resilience will come down to Sandbox’s popularity and whether it can build critical partnerships and establish a thriving community of users. Since its launch in 2018, the virtual world has enticed 23,500 users to buy virtual land plots. The corporation has further signed 400 brand partnerships.
While these figures paint an optimistic picture of the future for Sandbox, there are still some challenges that lay ahead.
More to do
Sandbox has more to do if it is to be a long-term success story with usage of the platform in decline from last year. Sandbox had 100,000 players in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 72% drop from a comparable 10-week period that ended in November of 2022.
Active wallet addresses are also down 90% from their peak a year ago, according to data from CoinGecko and DappRadar.
Borget remains philosophical about the figures, pointing to the fact that users can visit the platform without making transactions. As for the transactions that were made, these amount to sales of $1 million.
“We have more creators than ever, more users than ever and more brands than ever,” said Borget. “It’s because there’s real utility behind virtual lands and avatars. People see that they can play, engage, and monetize their lands and creations.”
The co-founder is now predicting double-digit growth throughout the rest of the year. The next sprint cycle should see Sandbox fully open to the public as it moves beyond the beta phase.
Beyond that, the company plans to launch the metaverse project on smartphones next year. That would see Sandbox tap into the mobile gaming market, accounting for half of the gaming industry’s $183 billion revenue last year.
and then