Atari enters The SANDBOX creating a LAND rush
One of the most iconic game developers in existence, Atari, made an entry into The Sandbox. The fathers of RollerCoaster Tycoon, Asteroids, Pong and Centipede are brining flavor into TSB’s world. Animoca Brands and its subsidiary TSB Gaming Ltd announced their partnership with Atari on March 27th. The aim is to create 3D voxel versions of beloved Atari game properties.
Animoca is a publicly listed gaming company and is the creator of the popular Crazy Defense Heroes. The company also has a partnership with CryptoKitties developer Dapper Labs. CryptoKitties was one of the first successful blockchain-based games and stretched the capacity of the nascent Ethereum blockchain during the cryptocurrency boom of recent years.
The Atari Deal
The most recent deal brings Atari into the Sandbox world. The company will receive large digital spaces or ESTATEs in The Sandbox gaming metaverse. The iconic Atari classic games will receive 3D voxelized versions within the Atari ESTATEs. Additionally, special creations will be made available to players when The Sandbox publicly launches later this year. Furthermore, Atari-inspired in-game ASSETs will be developed for gamers to use in their own games. Finally, Gamers will also have the option to use the SAND token or the Atari Token when they play in the Atari Land.
Frédéric Chesnais, Atari CEO. stated:
“Given that Atari’s iconic brands introduced so many people to their very first interactive entertainment, it only makes sense for us to be part of the imaginative experience that is The Sandbox. This exciting collaboration with The Sandbox also expands and deepens Atari’s strategic involvement in Blockchain-powered and cryptocurrency-fueled entertainment.”
Previous Investment
Japanese gaming giant Square Enix brought us massive titles like Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider. They are now putting themselves firmly behind blockchain-based gaming by investing in TSB Gaming. TSB stands for “The Sandbox”, and is one of the largest user-generated content and gaming platforms. They are also a part of Animoca Brands.
Animoca Brands has announced a $2 million investment from a round of funding that has included Square Enix, B Cryptos, Mindfulness Capital and True Global Ventures. The $2 million consists of 83% cash and 17% in Bitcoin and Tether through the issue of SAND tokens, one of TSB Gaming’s digital assets. Additionally, a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) convertible securities was reached, as per Forbes reporting. In its announcement, Animoca Brands writes:
“Animoca Brands received US$2.01m in cash and cryptocurrency via the issue of SAFE convertible securities and pre-sale of SAND utility tokens by its subsidiary TSB Gaming Ltd.”
The investment actually occurred in the third quarter of 2019. The news, however, weren’t revealed whilst concerns raised by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) were addressed. Animoca Brands is publicly listed in the US and Australia and is based in Hong Kong. Securities regulators around the globe have readily scrutinized capital fundraising where it involves cryptocurrencies and digital assets after the initial coin offering (ICO) craze of 2017. TSB Gaming also raised a previous $2.5 million via SAND tokens and SAFE notes.
The new blockchain version of The Sandbox is an entire virtual world that TSB Gaming is building on the Ethereum network. Animoca Brands says:
“It is one of the first decentralized, community-driven game platforms, providing users with true ownership of their creations as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”
LAND rush
Within the virtual, voxel world, users can buy their own land, or LAND tokens, and make their creations. The Sandbox has conducted two LAND pre-sales already. This resulted in raising over 1,300 in the Ethereum, or Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency, by selling over 10,000 LANDs. A third LAND presale began on March 31, 2020. Earlier this month it was revealed that a week in February saw a massive hike in the transaction volumes of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for blockchain projects like The Sandbox, Decentraland, and Cryptovoxels. The blockchain version of The Sandbox is expected to launch completely in the second half of 2020. It is one of the most anticipated blockchain games in the world.
The Sandbox that exists today from TSB Gaming has seen over 40 million downloads and boasts over one million monthly active users. The Sandbox blockchain virtual world will be a “deeply immersive” metaverse where games and worlds can be created. Animoca Brands explains:
“The Sandbox features three main components: a VoxEdit NFT builder for building voxel game ASSETs (items and scripting), a Marketplace for buying and selling ASSETs, and the Game Maker tool where complete interactive games can be constructed and shared on a user’s LAND (unique digital locations on which players can build and monetize games).”
The Sandbox land craze continued yesterday. As soon as Atari made an entry the land in the area completely sold out within 5 hours. In the end, this craze generated more than 3,400 ETH (equivalent to $450,000 USD at exchange rate time) via the sale of 12,384 unique LAND parcels.
Animoca Brands is also developing its own Formula 1 licensed blockchain-based game, F1 Delta Time.
