Looking Back on 2024 and What’s Next for The Sandbox

A transformative year in The Sandbox is underscored by groundbreaking mainstream partnerships, platform innovation, and deep social player engagement.

“The Sandbox envisions a decentralized metaverse where users and brands can create, own, and monetize experiences through NFTs, fostering creativity, collaboration, and a thriving play-to-earn economy.”

That vision has guided us since our launch in 2018, and last year, we continued to make meaningful strides toward its realization.

This year, we continued to service our community by hosting more virtual LAND sales on The Sandbox Map, allowing players to become neighbors with over 400 major brands and celebrities, found new ways for brands to reward their users with digital assets through gamification, used SAND to power a larger gaming ecosystem, bridged Web2 audiences to our platform, and offered regular product updates and launched our DAO.

But these achievements were just the beginning! Enter the metaverse today and read more about 2024 in The Sandbox below.

TL;DR

Alpha Season 4 Highlights

• Hosted our largest event to date with 100+ unique experiences and 50+ hours of gameplay.
• Featured content from 40 major brands, including Hell’s Kitchen, Attack on Titan, and Terminator.
• Record-breaking player engagement: 580,000+ unique players, 1.4M hours played, and 49M quests completed.
• Distributed a $2.5M USD SAND reward pool.

Game-Changing Partnerships

• Expanded to 800+ brands, welcoming new names from entertainment (Attack on Titan, The Terminator, King Kong of Skull Island), sports (Napoli), and beauty industries (Guerlain).

Growth in Ownership

• Surpassed 25,000 LAND owners and unveiled five new neighborhoods, including AdventureWorld.
• Grew avatar ownership to over 62,000, supported by 14 new collections and exclusive rewards.

Launch of The Sandbox DAO

• Introduced a DAO with a 25M SAND budget to empower community-driven development.
• Approved 17 Sandbox Improvement Proposals (SIPs), including creator programs and platform enhancements.

Deeper Web3 Integration

• Bridged SAND to Binance and Base, enhancing token utility across blockchains.
• Surpassed 2.8M free transactions with gasless options to reduce user costs.
• Partnered with new external marketplaces like Magic Eden and collaborated with other virtual worlds like Upland for cross-platform rewards.

Empowering Creators

• Hosted Builders’ Challenges and Game Jams, resulting in 750 new experiences and 3M+ SAND earned by creators.
• Expanded support with Builders’ Launchpad, genre templates, and global Bootcamp events.
• Surpassed 1,500 published experiences on The Sandbox Map.

Product Innovations

• Updated Game Maker and Game Client with new features, tools, and performance improvements.
• Introduced The Sandbox Launcher for easier downloads, updates, and navigation.
• Enhanced marketplace capabilities and discovery features.

IRL Events

• Participated in 80+ global events, including SXSW, NFT Paris, Cannes Film Festival (unveiling Hollywood Hills, our first film project), and Token2049.

Looking Ahead to 2025

• Plan to introduce consistent seasons and in-game events while continuing to enhance gameplay and empower creators with more accessibility and new tools.
• Expand The Sandbox ecosystem with the Voxel Games Program to enable games from top third-party studios built on various game engines and distributed across different platforms.
• Further decentralization through The Sandbox DAO, allows the community more decision-making and contribution.
• Continue our mission of bridging the real and virtual worlds to redefine interactive experiences and entertainment.

A Record-Breaking Alpha Season 4

Our biggest event to date was one for the history books!

Alpha Season 4 included over 100 unique experiences and 50+ hours of gameplay. With content from 40 top brands, including Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, Playboy, Attack on Titan, Hellboy, and Terminator: Dark Fate, alongside some of the best user-generated content ever, we delivered a new format of diverse adventures, challenges, and a SAND reward pool worth over $2.5 million USD!

Over our ten-week planetary conquest, we saw an influx of over 580,000 unique players, 1.4 million hours played, an average of 145 minutes of playtime per player, 350,000 NFTs sold, and 49 million in-game quests completed. That’s a lot of records broken in a short period!

Some of our most popular experiences included the Alpha Season 4 Social Hub, Rabbids: Unblock Plunga Party, Fork Off by Hell’s Kitchen, Love Island: Labyrinth of Love, and Club XYZ, featuring global music icons like BLOND:ISH (CULTR), Jamiroquai, and Galantis.

Alpha Season 4 saw major media attention thanks to its original experiences from brands across industries. Everyone from MorningStar to Vogue to Cryptopolitan ran pieces covering the content and partnerships featured in Alpha Season 4!

Game-Changing Partnerships

Last year, we welcomed new partners in The Sandbox from the beauty, entertainment, sports, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and music industries, furthering our commitment to bringing players closer to the brands they love. In total, 2024 saw The Sandbox expand its ecosystem to include over 800 brands and partners.

Entertainment partners sought out The Sandbox as a way to create bespoke, interactive content for their fans that transcended the real world, including The Voice’s Coach Battle experience, which invited people to vote for their favorite contestants on NBC’s Season 25 of The Voice directly from The Sandbox. Two other ITV shows, Love Island and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! also joined The Sandbox with the unveiling of the new ShowCity neighborhood (Yahoo Entertainment, Deadline).

Legendary manga Attack on Titan exploded onto The Sandbox Map during Alpha Season 4 with their Attack on Titan: Invasion experience, quickly becoming one of the platform’s most played and highly-reviewed games (CBR, Anime News Network). Another fan-favorite franchise, The Terminator, joined us to create an experience inspired by the 2019 film Terminator: Dark Fate, garnering over 500,000 quest completions within the first week of its release.

King Kong of Skull Island joined the ranks of popular franchises in The Sandbox as part of the Brawlers Ring neighborhood, which offered owners custom-branded King Kong of Skull Island x The Sandbox boxing gloves. In 2025, King Kong of Skull Island ape-sized avatars, a first for The Sandbox, will also be made available via an exclusive avatar collection and a new experience!

SSC Napoli became the first football club to arrive in The Sandbox, launching a limited-edition Metaverse Pop-Up store located inside four experiences where fans could hang out with different players from the SSC Napoli roster (Sports Business Journal). This marked the brand’s first entrance into the metaverse, with more activations to come for Napoli fans to enjoy.

We also welcomed Guerlain for their The World is Our Garden experience (Vogue Business 1, 2), and Chupa Chups, the well-known confectionery brand behind the iconic lollipops during Alpha Season 4 (License Global, Trend Hunter).

External studios building in The Sandbox also introduced new partners of their own to the platform, with Top Gear entering The Sandbox in partnership between BBC Studios and Reality+, launching The Stigverse, an immersive gaming experience where players save the universe from rogue Stigs (Blockchain Gamer.biz). We also saw the first-ever city to open virtual tourism in The Sandbox with Smobler Studios joining forces with the city of Austin to create Cobbleland: Austin (Chainplay).

Expanding Our Owner Ecosystem

Partnerships weren’t the only area where we saw massive growth. We also welcomed thousands of new LAND and avatar owners to The Sandbox.

Our avatar owners grew to over 62,000 last year with the launch of 14 new collections. We introduced a new avatar owner-exclusive reward program featuring bespoke monthly collections with in-game benefits such as the Dragon Armour set, The Sandbox Metaverse Team, and more.

We also surpassed 25,000 LAND owners in 2024, marking a significant milestone as we unveiled five new neighborhoods on The Sandbox Map. These included Thaiverse, K-Verse 3, ShowCity, and the highly anticipated AdventureWorld neighborhood — a digital amusement park featuring three unique parks. Last year, we opened two of those parks: Defender District, headlined by Attack on Titan, and Brawlers Ring, featuring King Kong of Skull Island. We’re excited to introduce the third park of AdventureWorld in 2025.

Launch of The Sandbox DAO

Last June, we launched The Sandbox DAO (Capital, Decrypt, Cointelegraph), fulfilling a long-term vision of our initial whitepaper. We invited SAND and LAND owners to participate in building the metaverse with us, using a 25 million SAND budget to lay the groundwork for the platform’s future. Members can propose innovative solutions and ideas for how we can keep growing the ecosystem. So far, we’ve seen 17 Sandbox Improvement Proposals (SIPs) reach quorum, including The Sandbox Ambassador Program, Magic Palette, The Sandbox Academy, and the approval of the DAO budget and constitution.

We’re excited to see the continued innovation and creativity from our growing community as they propose new SIPs to shape the future of The Sandbox. We encourage our community to join the DAO and help us build an even more dynamic metaverse that serves its users together.

Deeper Integrations into the Web3 Ecosystem

In 2024, we continued to expand and integrate The Sandbox into the wider Web3 universe. This past July, we bridged SAND to two of the largest blockchains, Binance and Base, adding to our existing Polygon bridge.

This cross-chain initiative allows SAND holders to use their tokens, acquired either in-game or through secondary market purchases, for transactions on other compatible blockchains.

We also joined forces with new marketplaces like Magic Eden and MOOAR, making it easier than ever for users to purchase assets of The Sandbox such as avatars and LAND.

As part of our mission to reduce costs for users and neutralize the carbon footprint of The Sandbox, we introduced a monthly allocation of gasless transactions for each user, encouraging them to claim their rewards without having to pay an added fee. This past year, we surpassed a new milestone of 2.8 million free transactions offered, an increase from 2023. We expect this number to grow further in 2025 alongside our user base.

We partnered with Upland to build and offer cross-platform rewards in each other’s virtual worlds and launched Mocaland in collaboration with the Mocaverse NFT collection. Our Rise of the Memecoins event welcomed the PEPE, DOGE, SHIB, BONK, and DEGEN communities, featuring rewards for VoxEdit and Game Jam contests while spotlighting top memecoin-inspired experiences in The Sandbox.

Our partnership with Milk Partners Co. will bring blockchain-based loyalty integrations for our users, introducing collaborative initiatives and co-marketing activations that expand the possibilities of Web3 integration.

Empowering Creators

Last year was truly the year of creators in The Sandbox and we believe it’s just the start.

In 2024, we launched new opportunities for creators to earn on the platform through Builders’ Challenges 1 and 2. These 10-week events rewarded creators based on the amount of player engagement in their experiences. Builders’ Challenges 1 and 2 engaged over 400 creators, who brought 750 new experiences to life and earned more than 3 million SAND in rewards. User-generated experiences released during the Builders Challenge saw over 600,000 visits and 220,000 hours played. Increased engagement led to higher earnings, with the top ten creators earning an average of 100,000 SAND!

In addition to the Builders’ Challenges, we expanded our existing creator programs to further enable creators to build with their favorite brands and IPs. This expansion includes hosting 20 Game Jams in partnership with brands like Madballs, Mocaverse, Hell’s Kitchen, and The Little Prince. These events attracted over 8,300 creators, including many first-time builders.

The Builders’ Launchpad initiative debuted last year to help fast-track our creators’ experiences by providing them with expert support, plots of LAND, CATALYSTs, and opportunities to be featured on our homepage. This program has enabled creators to explore new genres while delivering diverse content to players. Since its start in May, we’ve seen over 200 applicants, 20 experiences live on the map, and 10 more in progress.

With the addition of genre templates, we’ve streamlined the creation of numerous popular game types, including Survival, Cooking Simulator, Tower Defense, and Resource Management.

Our Builders Bootcamp series kicked off in France before traveling to Japan, India, Turkey, and Hong Kong, uniting top creators to delve into core gaming mechanics alongside expert game designers. Meanwhile, our Creator Forum has flourished into a dynamic community with over 1,000 members and 1,400 posts. It’s now a thriving hub where creators actively foster the sharing of ideas, connection, and collaboration with peers.

Our Creator Portal added comprehensive documentation updates for technical and creative needs to support product releases and the continued education of creators.

Through all these initiatives, we surpassed 1,500 experiences created by talented creators and brands from around the globe, all published on The Sandbox Map.

Product Updates

Last was a year of strong product improvements for The Sandbox, highlighted by significant updates to both the Game Maker and Game Client. Game Maker 0.10 introduced enhanced behaviors, advanced HUD customization options, and streamlined creation tools, making game-building more accessible for creators of all levels. Meanwhile, the Game Client 0.10 update delivered immersive gameplay and audio features, improved social interactions, and optimized performance.

In April, the introduction of The Sandbox Launcher further streamlined accessibility and ease, giving users a more seamless way to manage downloads, and updates, and navigate the platform.

Enhancements to The Sandbox Marketplace enabled seamless transactions, letting users buy and sell CATALYSTs and LAND directly on-platform. The updated LAND purchase flow eliminated the raffle system, offering a faster and more straightforward buying experience.

Search and discovery also saw updates, making it easier for players to find things they’ll love. The new Experience Gallery showcases categories such as Featured Experiences, Top-Rated Experiences, Event Experiences, and New Experiences while allowing players to search by name and apply filters for a more tailored experience. The revamped search bar and asset recommendations now display popular searches and user-suggested queries. To improve discovery, we introduced a “You Might Also Like” section at the bottom of asset pages, highlighting similar assets.

We optimized dashboard navigation for a smoother user experience and introduced several social features to enhance community interaction. Players can now leave reviews and engage with others through comments on experience pages, also allowing creators to interact with their players. User profiles were upgraded with social features, including the ability to follow or unfollow, view follower counts, and explore follower lists. These updates mark the first step toward fostering deeper social connections between players, creators, and our brand partners.

We also launched the First Time Square tutorial, designed to welcome new users to The Sandbox with a fun onboarding experience that explains how to use controls and engage with the metaverse while earning their first rewards.

In 2025, we’re excited to continue innovating, introducing even more powerful tools and features to enhance The Sandbox platform and broader ecosystem.

IRL Events

Last year saw The Sandbox participate in over 80 major events around the world attended by over 70,000 people! Highlights included NFC Lisbon in May, where we officially launched The Sandbox DAO, and Token2049 in Singapore, where Alpha Season 4 was unveiled. We also attended South by Southwest (SXSW) to talk about music in the metaverse and NFT Paris, where we captivated attendees with an interactive VR booth in partnership with DressX, showcasing the future of digital fashion.

Over the summer, we collaborated with the Paris Korean Cultural Center during the 2024 Olympic Games to design a dedicated space showcasing Korean cultural brands through interactive gaming experiences, displays, and storytelling. At Paris Blockchain Week, we partnered with Coin Telegraph in the Palais du Louvre, spotlighting innovative projects in the space.

At the Cannes Film Festival, we publicly unveiled our first film project, Hollywood Hills. The launch party, held on the sands of Vilebrequin Beach, celebrated our foray into what we view as the future of entertainment where gaming and ownership intersect with cinema.

At TOKEN2049 Singapore, we announced Alpha Season 4 and hosted “Gaming Meets Web3” where we brought together industry leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts to discuss the future of blockchain gaming and exciting new developments. Sebastien Borget, our COO and Co-Founder, delivered remarks as we introduced new ambassadors and showcased new games.

Devcon took us to Bangkok, Thailand where we presented an exclusive preview of experiences in Alpha Season 4 featuring both UGC and IP partners.

And, to cap off a year of events, in December we delved into how The Sandbox is able to successfully bring brands and celebrities into the gaming space at the VentureBeat Hollywood Summit in Los Angeles. This was followed by The Sandbox Awards hosted at our LA offices, inviting creators from around the globe to come together to celebrate the best experiences launched in The Sandbox in 2024.

Looking Ahead to 2025

So, where do we go from here? After a very productive year, we’re focused on pushing The Sandbox ecosystem to even greater heights. In 2025, we plan to improve further on some of the things we already do well: working with top brands to deliver unique, immersive experiences and creating in-game events that engage and reward players worldwide. Building on the momentum of the record-breaking Alpha Season 4, a big target is to provide more consistent seasons and accompanying events with strong LiveOps and meta-gameplay.

Improving gameplay and performance will remain a top priority. We are an ever-expanding metaverse and will continue to work hard to deliver increasingly fun and polished gameplay. In addition to new features and mechanics, this means faster loading times and other performance optimizations. We’ll also continue to streamline the onboarding process of new players, making it easier than ever to join our ecosystem.

This doesn’t just apply to players, it extends to our growing creator ecosystem. Empowering creators remains key, and we’ll continue to ship regular updates for Game Maker and VoxEdit, providing even more tools and features to help creators build, innovate, and succeed.

In 2025, we plan to expand The Sandbox into a broader gaming ecosystem through the Voxel Games Program. The VGP is already enabling us to work with top third-party studios to produce games that will be built on different game engines and available on various distribution platforms (App Store, Steam, etc) while being interoperable and remaining a part of the TSB ecosystem. Beyond this, we plan on providing even more layers and infrastructure for builders to create decentralized products and services (more on this soon!).

Of course, The Sandbox couldn’t exist without its foundation in web3. We will continue to decentralize and push this vision forward. 2024 brought the launch of The Sandbox DAO, a realization of our original whitepaper. We’ve already seen 17 SIPs in the DAO voted upon, with delegates actively representing the community to help shape the future of our platform. We’ll continue to enable the DAO to drive ecosystem growth.

The future of The Sandbox is truly brighter than ever. We remain committed to our vision of bridging the gap between real and virtual worlds, using gaming and technology to merge culture and entertainment. Together, we’re redefining the future of interactive experiences and shaping the metaverse. 2024 was an amazing year and we look forward to what’s ahead in 2025. Stay tuned — there’s so much more to come!