The Sandbox is pioneering a metaverse revolution in Greater China.
Get ready to enter a world beyond your wildest imagination—The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands! The decentralized virtual gaming platform that has captivated gamers worldwide is expanding its reach even further, with a major push into the Greater China market. At a recent Partner Day event on April 3, 2023, The Sandbox unveiled its ambitious strategy to take the market by storm.
The company plans to partner with over 40 local partners, collaborate with 17 educational institutions and team up with three new creative studios and metaverse builders: Underground City, Next Station: Metaverse, and Sword and Fairy. With these exciting partnerships, The Sandbox will be able to work with more than 400 brands that have already acquired LAND within its virtual world, cementing its position as a true leader in the metaverse ecosystem.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at The Sandbox’s plans for growth in Greater China and reveal how the Greater China market is essential to the company’s overall growth plans. So grab your controllers and get ready for a wild ride!
The Sandbox’s Greater China Strategy 2023
Empowering local creators
The Sandbox is spearheading a groundbreaking initiative in Greater China that is set to change the gaming industry. In Q3 2023, the company will roll out upgraded versions of tools like Game Maker and VoxEdit to empower creators to bring their imaginative visions to life in the metaverse and help them streamline their content management.
Game Maker is an innovative game development platform that enables users to create and publish their own games without any coding knowledge. With Game Maker, creators can design entire worlds from scratch, create unique characters and craft captivating gameplay that keeps players engaged for hours on end.
On the other hand, VoxEdit is a cutting-edge voxel editing software that enables users to design stunning 3D assets for use in the metaverse. Voxels are 3D pixels, and VoxEdit empowers creators to build and edit these voxels to give shape to their creations. With VoxEdit, users can build everything and even animate their creations using the built-in animation tools.
Together, Game Maker and VoxEdit provide a powerful suite of tools that give creators the power to design and develop immersive metaverse experiences. These enhanced tools by The Sandbox will drive innovation and foster a thriving and diverse metaverse ecosystem in Greater China and beyond.
Collaborating with educational institutions for STEAM learning
The Sandbox recognizes the importance of fostering interest and understanding of emerging technologies among the next generation in Greater China. In an effort to support educational opportunities for students, the company has teamed up with several leading tertiary institutes, including the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Through these collaborations, The Sandbox aims to introduce interactive and engaging Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) related learning experiences in the metaverse. The partnership with these academic institutions provides students with the opportunity to explore and learn about the exciting possibilities of the metaverse and its applications in various industries.
These partnerships demonstrate the growing importance of the metaverse in education and the potential it holds for the future, as The Sandbox continues to pave the way for a more innovative and digitally fluent future for the next generation in Greater China.
Developing its metaverse ecosystem with metaverse agencies in Greater China
Looking to develop an ecosystem for its open metaverse platform, The Sandbox has partnered with some of the most innovative metaverse agencies across the Greater China region, including Collectiv from Hong Kong, 01a1 from Shanghai and TWCC from Taiwan. These agencies will join the 17 metaverse builders that are already established in the region, which will further bolster The Sandbox’s ecosystem. By bringing together the brightest minds in the industry, The Sandbox is on track to create a dynamic and thriving open metaverse platform.
The Sandbox has also announced the launch of multiple new metaverse experiences in mid-April, including PwC Hong Kong, Hinsland, Mamoru Exchange and Bored Mummy Waking Up. These new experiences demonstrate the versatility of The Sandbox platform and its ability to cater to a diverse range of industries and interests.
As The Sandbox continues to develop its metaverse ecosystem, the possibilities for the platform’s growth and innovation are endless. With its visionary partnerships and dedication to creating engaging and immersive experiences, The Sandbox is proving to be a true game-changer in the metaverse landscape.
Capturing the Greater China Market with LAND sales
The Sandbox’s Partner Day event on April 3, 2023
The Sandbox’s successful strategy to sell virtual land and avatar NFTs in Greater China has been nothing short of phenomenal. Since November 2022, the company has been making headlines with its LAND sales, such as Voxel Madness, California Dreamin’, Galleria and K-verse, all of which have sold out within 24 hours. Similarly, the avatar NFT sales, including Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, Madballs and Rabbids Lunar New Year Collection, have also been a hit, selling out in less than two hours.
In 2022, The Sandbox made a splash with its launch of LAND sales for Mega City 1 and 2, metaverse cultural hubs that provide partners with the opportunity to purchase LANDs to build their own immersive experiences on the platform. These sales were a massive success, with over 2,000 LAND sold, resulting in a staggering 3.1 million $SAND (the platform’s utility token) in sales. Building on this success, The Sandbox is gearing up to launch further LAND sales in Q2 this year, with the highly anticipated Mega City 3 leading the charge.
As with the previous Mega Cities, this new development promises to attract partners from across the Greater China region. With the new partnerships, the LAND sale will further scale and expand the company’s partner portfolio, cementing its position as a major player in the metaverse ecosystem.
Hong Kong plays crucial role in The Sandbox’s Greater China Strategy
Hong Kong is the headquarters of Animoca Brands—The Sandbox’s mother company—and The Sandbox’s Greater China strategy relies heavily on Hong Kong’s forward-thinking approach to new technologies, according to co-founder and COO Sebastien Borge. With strong partnerships already built with organizations like PCCW-HKT, MTR, HKDI and HKUST, The Sandbox sees Hong Kong as a key player in the global hub for Web3 and metaverse development.
Head of Growth (Hong Kong) for The Sandbox in Greater China, Erich Wong, notes, “Asia remains the engine for growth in the metaverse and building user value is key for long-lasting success. Despite recent crypto-winter conditions, we have steadily built partnerships in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) while aligning with the Hong Kong government’s development plans for virtual assets.”
The Sandbox sees massive opportunity in Greater China Market
The Greater China market presents a massive opportunity for The Sandbox, given that China’s online gaming industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.45% and reach US$90.52 billion by 2027. With over 701.8 million gamers as of 2022, the country is the largest video game market globally. However, the market is also highly competitive, with regulatory hurdles, censorship issues and cultural differences posing challenges for new entrants.
Nonetheless, The Sandbox’s unique approach to gaming and blockchain technology could give it an edge in the region. By establishing a network of local partners, empowering user-generated content creators, collaborating with educational institutions and creating immersive experiences for brand partners, The Sandbox aims to establish itself as a major player in the Chinese market and make Hong Kong the metaverse hub of the region.
As the world continues to shift towards a more digital and decentralized future, it will be exciting to see how The Sandbox’s strategy unfolds and how it contributes to shaping the future of virtual worlds.
Also read:
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- Gamers Turn To NFT Games to Earn Cryptocurrency
- What Is Cozy Gaming and Why Is It Becoming Popular?
Header image courtesy of The Sandbox
