Animoca Brands’ decentralised gaming virtual world ‘The Sandbox’ has partnered with South China Morning Post (SCMP), a leading news organisation based in Hong Kong, to bring a new series of cultural experiences to the subsidiary’s open gaming metaverse.
The strategic partnership will bring one of the most international cities in the world to life in the gaming metaverse through SCMP’s 118 years of journalism.
Part virtual real-estate, part amusement park, The Sandbox fully embraces the idea of the metaverse - as popularised in movies like Ready Player One - as a continuous shared digital space where worlds and heroes collide to create immersive experiences that stretch the imagination.
Through the partnership, SCMP continues to advocate for information accessibility through new technologies, innovation and creativity.
Sandbox welcomes partnership
The Sandbox COO and co-founder Sebastien Borget said: “The Sandbox welcomes this partnership with the South China Morning Post as an important milestone in our quest to incorporate diverse cultures and histories in our gaming metaverse.
“SCMP is a leading global news company, and we are keen to see how it will leverage The Sandbox platform to offer exciting and interesting cultural content to our entire global community.”
Partnership details
The Sandbox fully embraces the idea of the metaverse - as popularised in movies like Ready Player One - as a continuous shared digital space where worlds and heroes collide to create immersive experiences that stretch the imagination.
Besides creating 3D voxel-based gaming and cultural experiences in The Sandbox, SCMP plans to launch a collection of exclusive NFTs inspired by its library of photography, visual illustrations, data visualisations and infographics.
As part of this partnership, SCMP’s extensive gallery of visual graphics will also be used in new interactive games and experiences that will recreate modern and historic locations and artefacts of Hong Kong and mainland China, such as the Kowloon Walled City and the Star Ferry, in collaboration with local game studios and creators.
This step also includes bringing together Hong Kong’s past and present in a ‘Mirrored World’ in the metaverse of The Sandbox.
Engaging and educating a global audience
SCMP CEO Gary Liu said: “The South China Morning Post is committed to engaging and educating a global audience with information and technology.
“The Sandbox allows us to create truly unique experiences based on SCMP's 118 years of journalism and ensures that these historical accounts and artefacts will remain immutable and available to the entire world.
“For instance, you will be able to experience the vibrant scenes of Hong Kong in the 1950s and learn about its complexities via SCMP's contemporaneous reporting. It's the past, the present, and the future all at once."
Real estate to build experience
Like other partners, SCMP will also join The Sandbox’s virtual real estate world to build experiences across the metaverse on LAND NFTs, which represent virtual real estate in the shared world of The Sandbox.
Following the partnership, SCMP will join over 165 existing partnerships with LAND owners including The Walking Dead, McDull, Deadmau5, Richie Hawtin, Hanjin, Avenged Sevenfold, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, and CryptoKitties, all following The Sandbox team’s vision of empowering players to create their own experiences using both original and well-known characters and worlds.
Additionally, LANDs will have the capability to be rented out to other players, and owners can invite other creators into their LAND to collaborate on the creation of content and experiences. Players can also combine LANDs into a larger shared space to create a richer and larger gaming or social experience.
To celebrate the new partnership, The Sandbox will hold a new LAND sale on July 22nd, 2021, that allows players to purchase spots near SCMP’s project.
Upcoming LAND sale event
The 24x24 estate of 576 LANDs can be seen on The Sandbox virtual world map and users will have the opportunity to buy LANDs next to SCMP’s project on the fifth wave of the Summer Jam land sale, scheduled for July 22nd, 2021.
The Sandbox’s upcoming LAND sale event will offer additional premium LAND located near the partners announced today.
Each purchasable LAND will include exclusive premium NFTs and have the possibility to host events, gaming experiences, or social hubs when the game is released later in 2021.
The Sandbox has already sold 50% of its total supply of 166,464 LAND NFTs, releasing them in successive waves that usually sell out in seconds.