The Alpha version of the virtual universe The Sandbox has just ended. Due to the success of this release, it announces its migration to an Ethereum layer 2, Polygon, to ensure maximum stability and comfort for its community
The Sandbox and metavers
Parallel to the success of non-fungible tokens (NFT) globally since the beginning of the year, “metavers” such as The Sandbox or Decentraland are not left behind. The Sandbox has 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 purchasing with cryptocurrencies as well as exchanging digital items.
Metaverses have been around for years and virtual properties have been traded on them for a while, but with the emergence of Web 3.0 and Facebook’s name change to “Meta”, the price of their tokens has skyrocketed.
The Sandbox, a project by two Frenchmen, has been around since 2011, but it has only been using blockchain technology since 2018.
It’s Alpha version ran during December and saw tens of thousands of players and over 15,000 NFTs distributed.
A migration to Polygon
The Sandbox virtual world 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 widely used and has reached its maximum capacity, has high transaction costs and times, thus limiting the possibilities.
So, to address these issues, the development team decided to migrate to Polygon to avoid potential network congestion while still being able to ensure minimal transaction fees.
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 has kept this name) is a platform running on Polygon SDK and whose objective is to aggregate protocols from Ethereum on higher layers such as 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 seen a price increase of 13,848% over the year 2021.
MATIC token price evolution over the year 2021 (Source: CoinGecko)
Polygon had announced the creation of a studio dedicated to video games in July, so the aggregation of The Sandbox to its system makes sense.
A successful Alpha release
At the end of November, The Sandbox opened its first Alpha version in which players who purchased an Alpha Pass could access 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 feedback from players regarding the Alpha version (Source: The Sandbox)
Currently, over 17,000 players have purchased “lands” in the game, which is a territory they own in the form of an NFT.
Among them are celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, DeadMau5, Steve Aoki and even companies such as Atari and Adidas.
Excerpt from the Sandbox territory map (Source: The Sandbox)
Sebastien Borget added, in conclusion:
The game will be launched more widely 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 the form of a Beta approximately every 2 months throughout 2022.
