The Sandbox
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo game
FoundedMay 2011 (2011-05)
Founder
  • Adrien Duermaël
  • Arthur Madrid
  • Sébastien Borget
Products
Number of employees
27 (2018)
ParentAnimoca Brands
Websitewww.sandbox.game

TSB Gaming (formerly known as Pixowl), doing business and commonly known as The Sandbox, is a metaverse platform developer. Founded in 2011, the company is now a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands. The company's chief product is The Sandbox, a 3D blockchain-based video game, platform, and game creation system released in 2021, a sequel to the 2D world-building mobile game developed by the company in 2012.

History

Early mobile games

The Sandbox was founded as Pixowl in May 2011 by game designer Adrien Duermaël and entrepreneurs Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget.[1][2] The year before, with his wife Laurel Duermaël, a comic book illustrator, Duermaël had created Doodle Grub, a simple game that utilizes accelerometers in smartphones to allow the user to direct a snake-like character in the gameplay by tilting the phone. Pixowl was founded to develop new games and manage updates for Doodle Grub which had garnered more than 3 million users and 200,000 active daily players by August 2011.[1]

In 2012, the company released The Sandbox, a world building mobile video game in which the user can create a "universe" that fits on a single screen using "elements" such as trees, fire, water and mud to achieve the increasingly complex objectives presented as levels in the gameplay.[3] By August 2012, the company had a branch in Buenos Aires and was headquartered in San Francisco. Its products included iOS and Android games in 15 languages. The company also raised $1.2 million in seed funding on AngelList from investors 500 Startups, Kima Ventures, Ax Ventures' Pymar Fund, Martín Varsavsky, Fabrice Grinda and Joshua Chodniewicz.[4] In March 2013, Greedy Grub, the first sequel to Doodle Grub, was released. The game included short animated cutscenes to advance the story line over a total of eight episodes with plans to release additional storylines every few months.[5]

Grub, another sequel to Doodle Grub, was first released in June 2014 for iOS and included a new map feature which the user can navigate to uncover new levels.[6] In November 2014, the company released The Sandbox EDU, a new version of game with several changes to make the game appropriate to children and educational.[7] In April 2015, the company released, Garfield: Survival of the Fattest, a game based on the Garfield comic strip. Developed in partnership with Paws, Inc., the production company for the comic strip, the game allows the user to control multiple characters to complete quests on an expanding wilderness campsite.[8]

In June 2016, the company released The Sandbox Evolution, another sequel to the 2012 game. The new gameplay featured more than 160 elements that can be used to create a universe, including "the ability to create electrical machines that utilize levers, batteries, sensors and more".[9] By 2019, the company had released a number of games, including Snoopy's Town Tale, Goosebumps: Horror Town, and Wonder Park Magic Rides,[2] as well as a game based on Thomas & Friends. In September 2019, Pixowl also released The Addams Family Mystery Mansion, a game based on The Addams Family.[10]

Blockchain and metaverse

In August 2018, Animoca Brands acquired Pixowl for $4.875 million in cash and stock.[11] Animoca Brands is an Australian company headquartered in Hong Kong with more than 380 holdings in its portfolio.[12] At the time of the acquisition, Pixowl had 27 employees working in San Francisco and Buenos Aires.[11] Now a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, Pixowl changed its incorporation name to TSB Gaming LTD and began doing business simply under the name The Sandbox[13] as it was preparing to release a sequel to The Sandbox in a 3D game format with blockchain integration.[11][13]

In March 2020, the company raised $2.01 million in cash and cryptocurrency and planned to raise more funds through sale of it cryptocurrency SAND,[13] the Ethereum-based utility token used on The Sandbox.[14] Virtual real estate on the platform began to be sold as property in plots representing no smaller than 9,216 square metres (2.28 acres) with air space up to 128 metres (420 ft).[15]

In February 2021, a pair of sales of plots of land in The Sandbox were reported to have been valued at a total of $2.8 million.[15] As of November 2021, there were more 12,000 digital land owners on The Sandbox,[16] including significant parcels of land were owned by musical artists Snoop Dogg, and Deadmau5,[17] investors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss,[16] and Adrian Cheng,[18] as well as companies like video game developer Atari and cryptocurrency exchange Binance.[16] In November 2021, the company also completed a Series B funding round in which it raised $93 million.[19][20] Its investors included SoftBank Group, LG Technology Ventures, Samsung Next, and Liberty City Ventures.[16] In December 2021, The Sandbox was the site of the biggest virtual land sale reported to date with a $4.3 million deal between Atari SA and Republic Realm, a virtual real estate developer.[21][22] By January 2022, the smallest plot of land for purchase on the platform cost a minimum of $11,000.[20]

The platform launched for alpha stage testing in November 29 to December 20, 2021, attracting more than 200,000 users.[17] In March 2022, the company announced a partnership with Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media to include "with an avatar and a dedicated space within the platform featuring a game-like experience themed around her".[23] In October 2022, Gucci became the first major fashion brand to own space on The Sandbox platform with the opening of the Gucci Vault Land where users can complete gamified tasks to win raffles for platform's cryptocurrency.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 McCullum, Garrett (August 26, 2011). "King of Code Finalist: Adrien Duermaël blends mobile games with comic art". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  2. 1 2 Heal, Jordan (2019-05-31). "Pixowl co-founder: 'We're aiming to have one major release every month'". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  3. ↑ Davidson, Pete (2012-05-21). "Become the god of pixels and play in The Sandbox". Inside Mobile Apps. Archived from the original on 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  4. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (2012-09-28). "Pixowl Raises $1.2M To Create The Simpsons of Mobile Games". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (2013-03-13). "Pixowl aims to extend its indie success with Greedy Grub". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  6. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (2014-06-26). "Pixowl brings 'Snake'-inspired Grub to iOS [Interview]". Adweek. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  7. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (2014-11-13). "Pixowl Launches The Sandbox EDU on iOS". Adweek. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  8. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (2015-04-16). "Pixowl's Garfield: Survival of the Fattest Launches on iOS". Adweek. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  9. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (2016-06-23). "Pixowl Launches The Sandbox Evolution on iOS, Android". Adweek. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  10. ↑ Pradhan, Dipen (2019-09-06). "Resurrection of The Addams Family & the Mystery Behind Branded IP Mobile Games". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  11. 1 2 3 "Animoca Brands acquires Sandbox game developer Pixowl for $4.875 million". VentureBeat. 2018-08-27. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  12. ↑ Dillet, Romain (2022-10-20). "Meta's $10B metaverse investment is 'not enough' according to Animoca Brands' Yat Siu". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  13. 1 2 3 Takahashi, Dean (2020-03-19). "The Sandbox raises $2 million more to build out blockchain-based game world". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  14. 1 2 Schulz, Madeleine (2022-10-27). "Gucci Vault opens metaverse world in The Sandbox with games and vintage fashion". Vogue Business. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  15. 1 2 Quiroz-Gutierrez, Marco (2021-03-22). "NFTs Are Spurring a Digital Land Grab—in Videogame Worlds". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Lee, Zinnia (2021-11-03). "Animoca's Blockchain Game Unit Raises $93 Million From SoftBank Amid Race To Build Metaverse". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  17. 1 2 Alcántara, Ann-Marie (2022-03-02). "Marketers Explore Metaverse Worlds". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  18. ↑ Lee, Zinnia. "Hong Kong Property Tycoon Adrian Cheng Builds Virtual Land In The Sandbox's Metaverse". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  19. ↑ Hu, Krystal (2021-11-02). "SoftBank leads $93 mln investment in NFT gaming firm the Sandbox". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  20. 1 2 Loizos, Connie (2022-01-13). "A peek into web3 power player Animoca Brands". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  21. ↑ Marquit, Miranda (2022-10-11). Barakah, Yahia (ed.). "Sandbox vs. Decentraland [2023]: Metaverses Come in Different Sizes". FinanceBuzz. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  22. ↑ Putzier, Konrad (2021-11-30). "Metaverse Real Estate Piles Up Record Sales in Sandbox and Other Virtual Realms". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  23. ↑ Kulp, Patrick (2022-03-16). "The Sandbox Is Building a Metaverse Palace for Paris Hilton". Adweek. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
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