In 2021, the metavese was presented as the future of the Internet. Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook in Meta, the investors flocked, many seasoned entrepreneurs launched their projects and The Sandbox established himself as the European web3 champion. Carrefour, Adidas, Gucci or HSBC rushed to buy virtual land in this new digital Eldorado. The Token Sand culminated at more than 7 euros, and the platform appeared to be one of the most promising projects in the ecosystem.
Four years later, the situation is very different and the golden age from 2020 to 2022, which was based on the promise of building and monetizing digital universes thanks to the Ethereum blockchain, has given way to uncertainties. The Sandbox had raised in series B more than 90 million euros from SoftBank in Lead, Animoca Brands or Samsung Next, carried by the NFTS explosion and media enthusiasm. The company had even considered in 2022 an additional lifting of more than 350 million euros, on a valuation exceeding 3.7 billion euros. But this operation has never succeeded, already revealing the breathlessness of the appetite of investors for the metavers.
From 2023, the ecosystem cracked, the NFT market collapsed by more than 90 % compared to its record volumes, the Sand lost 95 % of its value and the real use of the platform remained limited. Despite millions of registrations, only a few tens of thousands of active users regularly attended the universe.
According to our colleagues from The Big Whalethe company would face radical restructuring. Half of the workforce would be removed and the two co -founders, Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget, would have left the operational management for the benefit of Robby Yung, from Animoca Brands, responsible for restoring the economic viability of the platform. The Sandbox would redirect to a same launchpad, reflecting a desire to exploit the speculative dynamics of the crypto sector rather than betting on gaming.
Contacted by the editorial staff of Frenchweb.fr The Sandbox specifies that its co -founders have not left the company. Arthur Madrid now holds the position of Fleshman, while Sébastien Borget becomes Global Ambassador, representing the brand internationally, (a usual spacing mechanism in this type of situation editor’s note). The company also stresses that the workforce cuts are an optimization strategy based on the advances of artificial intelligence in the development of games and operations, and that the resources of animoca Brands will strengthen the efficiency of the organization.
Key point, The Sandbox formally claims not to rotate its initial mission. The platform maintains that its objective remains the empowerment of creators and the development of the economy of its $ Sand token, its lands and its NFTS. The company refuses to comment on rumors concerning projects related to the same and promises to announce its future initiatives via official channels. “Animoca’s include Involvely is a sign of its Commitment to the Platform, $ Sand Token Holders, and the Broader Community,” said the press release.
The dynamics of the metavers have experienced a marked slowdown, in part because the initial expectations preceded the real adoption by the general public. The economy of The Sandbox was strongly based on the valuation of virtual land and NFTS, a model which was weakened by the contraction of the market following FTX or Terra/Luna scandals. At the same time, non -blockchain platforms like Roblox and Fortnite continued to attract hundreds of millions of users, thanks to more accessible and content -rich universes.
However, the metavese has not died out. Communities remain active and investments in 3D infrastructure continue. However, the balance of the sector has evolved: the “metavese without blockchain”, carried by Roblox, Epic or more recently Apple with the pro vision, tends to impose itself as a dominant model. In this context, The Sandbox and Decentraland appear to be the representatives of a web 3 cycle confronted with its limits, but still present in the ecosystem.
