- In an unique interview with Insider at NFT.NYC, The Sandbox’s US CEO shared his imaginative and prescient for the metaverse platform.
- Mathieu Nouzareth stated customers nonetheless flock to The Sandbox as a result of it is not only a socializing house, however an attractive online game.
- “We want to be the Manhattan of the metaverse, a concentration of exciting brands and artists — but our vision isn’t to replace reality.”
In an interview at the NFT.NYC convention Monday — a number of days after bitcoin dipped under $20,000 — The Sandbox’s US CEO defined his imaginative and prescient for the platform and why the crypto downturn hasn’t dragged on the variety of folks visiting the metaverse.
“The Sandbox hasn’t really been impacted, and the reason I think is because we’re a game, and games are less impacted by a macroeconomic environment,” Mathieu Nouzareth advised Insider. “People come because it’s really a ton of fun, anyone can enjoy it.”
The Sandbox is a blockchain-based metaverse platform and online game, in addition to a subsidiary of high Web3 enterprise capital agency Animoca Brands. The firm made headlines final yr because it notched over $350 million in digital land gross sales — with one plot even promoting for $4.3 million.
Nouzareth, a 27-year entrepreneur veteran, acknowledged that the crypto sell-off has been painful for many buyers, although he is not too involved as a result of it is not the first
bear market
he is witnessed.
“I’ve seen five of these [downturns]. But if you keep your head down and focus on building, in two, three years, we will see some massive, amazing companies that will emerge after this,” Nouzareth stated.
He famous that the firm’s whole person base has not decreased throughout the crypto bear market. Instead, the proper sort of customers nonetheless flock to The Sandbox, he added, as a result of they don’t seem to be the ones eager about a get-rich-quick scheme.
A bear market encourages longer-term pondering and community-building, which is nice when an organization is aiming to construct a platform that may outlast cycles in the market, Nouzareth defined.
A digital ‘TIME Square’
The Sandbox is right here to enrich the current world, relatively than suck in customers so convincingly that they do not need to spend time in actuality, he added.
On Monday, the firm introduced a collaboration that entails certainly one of the actual world’s most iconic areas. The Sandbox is partnering with TIME to characteristic NFTs in a digital “TIME Square” with the objective of drawing extra customers to the digital artwork and commerce scene.
Phil Rosen/Insider
The Sandbox goals to combine a way of tradition with its gaming roots — which is why it is partnered with family names from throughout sectors, like Snoop Dogg, Adidas, “The Walking Dead,” and the South China Morning Post.
“It isn’t like ‘Ready Player One,’ a dystopian nightmare,” Nouzareth stated. “We want to be the Manhattan of the metaverse, a concentration of exciting brands and artists — but our vision isn’t to replace reality.”
Nouzareth highlighted that The Sandbox has a bonus over rivals like Roblox and Decentraland as a result of it is greater than only a socializing venue.
“I think we’re more successful than others because we see gaming as really the way to attract players into Web3, rather than just being a space to be social,” Nouzareth stated.
