The Sandbox and the Metaverse
In addition to the success of non-fungible tokens (NFT) globally since the start of the year, “metaverse” such as The Sandbox or Decentraland are not left out, which is how The Sandbox announced the end of its Alpha version and its success with players.
A metaverse is a digital universe in which players can evolve in real time. Often in an open world in 3D format, it is possible to interact with other people. These interactions include trading and buying cryptocurrency as well as exchanging digital items.
Metaverses have been around for years and virtual properties have been traded there for a while, but with the emergence of Web 3.0 as well as the Facebook name change to “Meta”, the price of their tokens has exploded.
Evolution of the SAND token price over one year, with the “Facebook Meta” announcement date circled in red – Source: Coingecko
The Sandbox, a project carried out by two French people, has existed since 2011, but it has only been using blockchain technology since 2018.
Its Alpha version took place during the month of December and saw tens of thousands of players and more than 15,000 NFTs distributed.
? To read on the same subject: PwC Hong Kong buys a plot of land in the metaverse The Sandbox
A migration to Polygon
The virtual world of The Sandbox will move from Ethereum to Polygon, a layer 2 or rather sidechain of the Ethereum blockchain (ETH), in order to be able to accommodate more audiences on its platform. Ethereum, which is heavily used and has reached its maximum capacities, has significant fees and transaction times, thus limiting the possibilities.
So, to remedy these problems, the development team decided to migrate to Polygon in order toavoid possible network congestion while being able to ensure minimal transaction costs.
According to Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, the game can be offered to a wider audience once the migration is complete.
Polygon, previously named MATIC (its token retained this name) is a platform running under Polygon SDK and whose objective is to aggregate protocols from Ethereum on higher layers like the Polygon network in order to make the ecosystem less “scattered”. It works with the so-called Proof-of-Stake (PoS) method.
Note that the MATIC token has known a price increase of 13,848% over the year 2021.
Evolution of the price of the MATIC token over the year 2021 – Source: CoinGecko
Polygon announced the creation of a studio dedicated to video games in July, so adding The Sandbox to its system makes sense.
? To find out more: Matic Network renames itself Polygon and adopts a new strategy to support Ethereum
A successful Alpha version
At the end of November, The Sandbox had opened its first Alpha version in which players who purchased an Alpha Pass could gain access to exclusive rewards. For the others, it was possible to try the virtual game in a more limited version.
The test was a great success and the feedback was generally positive according to the game’s official website.
Results and player feedback on the Alpha version – Source: The Sandbox
At present, over 17,000 players have purchased lands in the game, which corresponds to a territory they own in the form of an NFT.
Among them are personalities like Snoop Dogg, DeadMau5, Steve Aoki or even companies like Atari and Adidas.
Extract from the map of territories on Sandbox – Source: The Sandbox
Sébastien Borget added, to conclude:
“The game will be launched on a larger scale to the public once people who have purchased land are able to build and share their interactive experiences. “
According to him, The Sandbox should continue to open its doors to players in Beta form around every 2 months during the year 2022.
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About the Author : Maximilian Prue
Passionate about the world of decentralized finance and the novelties brought by Web 3.0, I write articles for Cryptoast in order to help make the blockchain more accessible to all. Convinced that cryptocurrencies will change the future very soon.
All articles by Maximilien Prué.