The Sandbox has been on everyone's lips in recent months with the explosion of NFTs and metaverse projects.
The virtual sandbox offers a decentralized metaverse, which stands out from other recent projects such as Meta (Facebook), Fortnite or Roblox.
Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, talks about the genesis of the project and the philosophy behind this virtual world of open gaming.
The walking dead
, Adidas, Snoop Dogg, Gucci and even Carrefour… Celebrities and international brands are snapping up a share of the metaverse signed The Sandbox, a success story launched in 2011 by two Frenchmen, Sébastien Borget and Arthur Madrid.
The two acolytes launched three start-ups, including the mobile video game studio behind the license The Sandbox, which was acquired in 2018 by Animoca Brands in Hong Kong.
If NFTs - non-fungible tokens that allow any virtual object to be resold thanks to a certificate of authenticity listed on the blockchain - and the metaverse have been heating people's minds for several months, The Sandbox has started to build the first technological bricks of this virtual universe from 2011.
Cryptokitties at the Sandbox
Originally, the mobile video game allowed the player to design his universe in 2D.
He could create levels with heroes, enemies… Super Mario Maker vibe for mobile.
The principle has not changed, but the experience is more immersive.
Today, The Sandbox is a virtual world of open gaming where players are sovereign, they have their own map, their own land and their own currency.
In this metaverse, they can resell their avatars, characters, decorations, objects or equipment that they have created in the game as NFTs.
Nota bene: it is not because we can resell them that they are worth a lot, is not Beeple who wants.
“The idea of a decentralized metaverse came about little by little, explains Sébastien Borget.
Our mobile game has been a huge success with over 40 million downloads and 70 million player creations”.
It was with the arrival of Cryptokitties that the idea was born to use blockchain technology, NFTs, and User Generated Content (UGC, content created by users).
“In 2017, we came across this game, one of the first to use the blockchain.
It offered the possibility of raising virtual cats and reselling them on a market place, a site which was not necessarily that of the video game, ”says the engineer by training who did not take long to see there. a possibility for the future of The Sandbox.
The idea is gaining ground, especially as it responds to a frustration that had not been resolved until now: the impossibility of rewarding creators for their content contribution.
"From there, we worked on a new version of The Sandbox to make it a complete platform with VoxEdit, which allows you to create assets, and the Game Maker 3D editor which you can use without knowledge of programming" .
Thanks to these creation tools, each player, artist or designer can now create their own universe - games, dioramas, art galleries... - and share it with others.
An autonomous metaverse
If The Sandbox differs from other current metaverse projects, it is above all for its philosophy.
Because, for Sébastien Borget, a metaverse only makes sense if it is decentralized.
Unlike the proposals of Meta (Facebook), Roblox, Fortnite which open the door to a closed virtual world.
The user cannot move from one world to another with his avatar.
"In the metaverse, this myriad of virtual worlds that can be accessed through an avatar to have richer, more immersive, more social experiences, all of this is possible only if that avatar can move from one virtual world to another”, insists the entrepreneur behind this vast 3.0 sandbox.
On The Sandbox, you can buy a virtual plot and use it as you wish.
It can be used “to stream games,
This immense virtual terrain outlines the first lines of the future of the Internet.
“Web 3.0 creates a Web more oriented towards its users, describes Sébastien Borget.
He holds all his data in his wallet [digital wallet] and he can decide who he gives access to.
He has control over his identity, the interactions and even the rewards he can get from his actions”.
Quite the opposite of what we observe in Web 2.0 whose model is based on the looting of personal data.
The objective of The Sandbox is to make the metaverse autonomous, it is the principle of decentralization.
Find the Future(s) section here
“Anyone can buy their land and announce their strategy to enter the metaverse.
It is done without our intervention, ”he enthuses.
To give an idea of the latest big announcements: Warner Music will create a musical theme park;
Snoop Dogg has launched a collection of personalized avatars that will give access to unique experiences (concerts, spending time with friends, exploring the metaverse…), depending on the rarity of the avatar;
Carrefour has also bought land on The Sandbox, the equivalent of thirty supermarkets, and not for e-commerce, but we will not know more.
The future of the Web is taking shape on The Sandbox.
Culture
Meta, Microsoft, Roblox... What will the metaverse of the future look like?
Style
Metavers: Will our avatars be more stylish than us in the future of fashion?
Innovation
NFT
Metavers
Future(s)
Culture
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print