Axa, Gucci, HSBC, Warner Music, Adidas, Carrefour, Ubisoft... and even the rapper Snoop Dogg are among the 20,000 owners of one of the 166,464 plots available in this virtual universe with summary, cubic and childish graphics, accessible without virtual reality headset.

This map has a limited number of lands, "which is not the case for all decentralized virtual worlds. We have sold 70% of them to date", confides to AFP Sébastien Borget, 37, co-founder of The Sandbox.

Also driven by other players such as its competitor Decentraland, the global market for the sale of virtual land has already exceeded 500 million dollars in 2021. With a market share of more than 60% for The Sandbox, according to its co-founder.

But what is the point of owning virtual land in a "metaverse", this network of interconnected virtual spaces described as the future of the internet?

"It's quite similar to real estate in the real world, argues Sébastien Borget. It's a space in which we will be able to create experiences that we will then be able to monetize, by selling content or renting this space. to other creators".

The essentials to know about the metaverse John SAEKI AFP

– Cadastre 3.0 –

First launched as a video game in 2011, the young shoot founded by two French people has taken the turn of "web3" since its acquisition by the Hong Kong company Animoca Brands in 2018, to become an immersive virtual world, where participants can, through their avatars, chat, play, trade unique digital objects ("NFT") and even participate in concerts.

Beyond the sale of land, the business model of the start-up is based on a "commission" of 5% on all transactions and exchanges carried out on the platform.

"Users own the property of their digital content. Avatar, equipment, land, houses... everything belongs to them", adds Sébastien Borget.

The Sandbox made $200 million in revenue last year.

Its associated cryptocurrency, the "sand", which is used in particular to buy clothes for its avatar, weighs more than 2.5 billion euros in capitalization.

A sign of the interest it arouses among investors, The Sandbox raised $93 million at the end of 2021.

– “Place of creativity” –

The interest of major brands for the metaverse has been increasingly marked since Facebook announced at the end of 2021 that it wanted to make it its new business project, renaming its parent company "Meta".

Culture, fashion, luxury, “gaming”, or even music, “we will find in The Sandbox almost all the sectors of activity of the industry of the real world to develop an experience there”, underlines its co-founder.

Why such an interest ?

"Brands have taken a long time to take the turn of the web. For the first time, they tend to position themselves on +web3+ a little earlier so as not to repeat their past mistakes", explains Sébastien Borget.

"Brands don't go there to monetize, we don't know how to do it, audiences still need to be educated strongly," he adds.

"It is above all a place of creativity".

If the metaverse finally manages to seduce the general public, the revenues generated could reach between 4,000 and 5,000 billion dollars by 2030, the equivalent of the Japanese economy, according to a study by McKinsey.

Still under construction, The Sandbox attracted 350,000 visitors when it last opened to the general public last March, recalls Sébastien Borget, who ultimately aims for an audience worthy of "Fortnite or Roblox" video games with "hundreds of millions" of visitors. users.

"We hope to get there in five to ten years," he says.

© 2022 AFP