The Sandbox Strategic Partnerships
Think Metaverse and for a lot of people Meta, the new name for Facebook, will come to mind. However, for those amongst us a little more in tune with the ins and outs of the Metaverse, The Sandbox is a company that epitomizes everything about the new Web3 universe. A 3D user-generated gaming platform based on the Ethereum blockchain owned by Animoca Brands — which coincidentally purchased the rights to the original The Sandbox mobile game in 2018 — it was co-founded in November 2021 by Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget. One strategy that is working well for The Sandbox is its approach to partnerships, which is expanding its reach for its user-generated worlds/social hub. The Metaverse Insider will now give you the low-down on seven of these:
1. Skybound Entertainment
Skybound Entertainment is a multiplatform content company that works closely with creators and their intellectual properties, extending their stories to further platforms including comics, television, film, tabletop and video games, books, digital content, events, and beyond. The company is the home of notable properties including The Walking Dead, Invincible and Super Dinosaur.
Based in Los Angeles, California, Skybound was founded in 2010 by Robert Kirkman. Its partnership with The Sandbox, announced in July 2021 on The Sandbox’s Medium account, was made to bring an authentic new The Walking Dead experience to The Sandbox’s open gaming metaverse.
On the partnership, Dan Murray, Co-CEO at Skybound Games & Merchandise, said:
“Bringing The Walking Dead comic book franchise to The Sandbox metaverse will offer fans a groundbreaking opportunity to play, create, socialize, inhabit and interact within a novel multiplayer gaming virtual world. It was important to us to offer a rich The Walking Dead experience in The Sandbox and leverage this first chance for players to create and share their own, user-generated new adventures featuring characters created by Robert Kirkman.”
2. Atari
The news in March 2020 that Atari had entered into a partnership with The Sandbox allowed Atari to showcase its content in the Montreal-based platform’s user-generated, virtual-gaming world.
Part of the collaboration with The Sandbox features some of the IPs from the Atari portfolio, recreating the iconic games using voxels and our Game Maker. Fan-favourite titles like Pong®, Roller Coaster Tycoon®, Centipede®, Super Breakout®, Asteroids®, and many more will come to The Sandbox and offer an exclusive experience for players.
Atari, a multi-platform, global interactive entertainment and licensing company — and the original innovator of video gaming, was founded in 1972 and owns and/or manages a portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises. In 2018, Atari relaunched its hardware business with its first new game system in years, the Atari VCS.
3. CoinMarketCap
CoinMarketCap is a source for crypto market capitalizations, pricing and information. With headquarters in Delaware, CoinMarketCap is also a price-tracking website for cryptocurrencies.
In December 2020, The Sandbox partnered with CoinMarketCap to launch the first NFT Gaming campaign on CoinMarketCap Earn. The campaign allows users to earn crypto assets while completing educational tasks that teach about The Sandbox and its innovative blockchain features.
Talking about the partnership, Sébastian Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox, said: “The educational videos and quiz series is a fun way to learn about crypto assets, NFTs, and how to tokenize and monetize digital game assets. We are excited to be part of CoinMarketCap’s efforts to help users learn more about the many opportunities to earn crypto assets by gaming on the blockchain.”
4. South China Market Post
In the summer of 2021, The South China Morning Post (SCMP) partnered with The Sandbox to create cultural experiences for the Metaverse. SCMP’s extensive gallery of visual graphics was brought to life in The Sandbox in new interactive games and experiences that recreate modern and historic locations and artifacts of Hong Kong and mainland China, such as the Kowloon Walled City and the Star Ferry, in collaboration with local game studios and creators.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained Hong Kong’s newspaper of record since British colonial rule.
5. ZEPETO
A subsidiary of Naver Corporation, Korea’s largest tech conglomerate that oversees dominant search and commerce businesses as well as the global messenger LINE, ZEPETO has a strong presence across Asia but is also growing rapidly in North America and Latin America.
In May 2021, The Sandbox announced that it has partnered with ZEPETO — Asia’s largest virtual world platform which at the time had amassed over 200 million lifetime users in two years since launch — offering each other a parallel 3D space in their respective virtual world environments, where users can socialize, chat, interact, and have fun while being able to access a series of NFTs for use in The Sandbox featuring ZEPETO game items, equipment, and wearables as well as art and decorative assets.
Rudy Lee, CSO of ZEPETO, said of the partnership:
“While this collaboration is only a first step, it is significant in that it reflects intent from distinct platforms to increase interoperability. We intend to continue to explore different possibilities in the blockchain space and consider The Sandbox to be an experienced partner.”
6. Care Bears
In September 2020, The Sandbox announced its partnership with Care Bears to Create the virtual Care-a-Lot Kingdom and NFTs to be sold in its LAND Presale 4.2.
The Care Bears was created and launched in 1982 at American Greetings. Since that time, the Care Bears have brought the values of caring and sharing to hundreds of millions of children and adults via their animated TV series “Care Bears: Unlock the Magic” and new YouTube-first show “Care Bears: Unlock the Music”.
The collaboration meant Care Bears™ (Cloudco) received large digital spaces, known as LANDS, in the gaming metaverse. On these LANDS, a 3D voxelized version of the Care Bears’ Care-a-Lot kingdom was made available to players when The Sandbox was officially launched a few months later.
7. Ledger
Ledger, a global platform for digital assets and Web3 based in Paris, announced in April of this year a partnership with The Sandbox to promote crypto education in the Metaverse.
Founded in 2014 by Éric Larchevêque, Joel Pobeda, Thomas France, and Nicolas Bacca, Ledger combines a hardware wallet: Nano S or Nano X and the Ledger Live app to offer consumers the easiest way to start their crypto journey while maintaining full control over their digital assets. With its ease of use, Ledger allows a user to begin investing in digital assets and ultimately, achieve financial freedom in a safe and stress-free environment, with additional education provided by its Ledger Academy. In addition to consumer products, Ledger has also developed Ledger Enterprise Solutions, a digital asset custody and security solution for institutional investors and financial players.
Ian Rogers, Ledger’s chief experience officer, announced the news at Non-Fungible Conference and said that the new partnership aims to bring security into The Sandbox’s world and provide Ledger with a place in the game to educate people about crypto.
“The reality is that educated people become Ledger customers, and so we just want to make sure that all people have all the education they need to be safe and to properly manage this incredible right and freedom that they have of self-custody.”
— Ian Rogers, Ledger
Other honourable mentions:
Adidas, Snoop Dogg, The Smurfs, CryptoKitties, Shaun the Sheep, Mcdull, Hanjin Tan, Community Gaming, Harmony, Lootex, Arkane Network, and Kyber Network.
For more market insights, check out our latest Digital Twin news here.
