How Metaverse platform The Sandbox brings creators and brands closer to their fans
Creators on The Sandbox include Snoop Dog, Playboy and McDonald's.
While brands chase creator endorsements for products that they’re ready to bring to market, The Sandbox wants to build community by giving users a fair chance to make something from scratch.
The social gaming platform recruits creators to build their own experiences that don’t require coding, fostering a user-generated content hub that welcomes both creator and brand activations.
Among these creators is artist and musician Agoria, who began partnering with The Sandbox in 2022, and spoke to the freedom of expression that the Metaverse grants.
“In The Sandbox, all citizens are equal and the same,” he said. “We are who we want to become, and we can voice what we strive to maintain.”
For the founders at The Sandbox, building a network of loyal creators has come from blending creative freedom with the right compensation.
I spoke to COO and co-founder Sebastien Borget, as well as Chief Content Officer Nicola Sebastiani, about equipping creators with the support and autonomy that fosters platform loyalty.
“The platform allows users to turn one game into an engine or a platform that extends forever,” said Borget. “There’s a personal attachment to your own content, whether it’s for a small circle of your own friends or a million fans.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Question: You first launched in 2011 as a mobile game. How have you grown while maintaining your mission?
Sebastien Borget: The vision of the company from the beginning was ‘How do we enable anybody to become a creator?’ That pushed us into the user-generated content realm early on. Our tools allow you to create and publish a game without touching a single line of code. Users can benefit from Web3 without the complexity of blockchain. It’s all very easy and accessible.
Nicola Sebastiani: These creators might not have the technology and distribution, but they do have the creativity and the willingness to find an audience and build a community.
Q: How does The Sandbox bring creators and brands closer together?
SB: When brands land on our map, people can become their virtual neighbors. Their game can be next to their favorite brand’s game, which creates a lot of visibility. Imagine your brand is next to your favorite brand on a billboard in Time’s Square or a physical brick-and-mortar shop.
Fans of these brands can also make their own games and experiences. Brands are launching official experiences in The Sandbox and opening themselves to co-creation for the first time.
Q: How does The Sandbox support creators, and how do you differentiate from other gaming platforms?
SB: Creators keep 95% of the revenue they generate. We think of creators like mini nations. They should have the autonomy to become self-sustainable for the future.
NS: We don’t see this as a gaming platform. We see it as the metaverse. Artists will come to extend their music videos, and there’s everyone from musicians like Snoop Dog to The South China Morning Post on Sandbox. I listen to the creator community to try and improve the program, and find ways to make sure their career within The Sandbox is sustainable.
Q: How do you stay connected with creators across the metaverse?
SB: The exciting part is that because it’s so decentralized, we don’t even know where all these conversations are going. But we know different social streams are bringing in creators, and that is interesting.
NS: Players generally move to Discord, which is the main channel that creators use to connect with their communities. We also have an old-school discussion forum for more formal discussion with creators. We take critical feedback and ask them to be very honest. We’re always trying to improve based on what creators want.
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