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The Sandbox (TSB) has released its official 2025 year-in-review, offering a detailed breakdown of how the platform evolved over the past 12 months. Despite a tough year for many web3 projects, the metaverse platform delivered a packed calendar of events, feature rollouts, and creator-focused shifts. The recap highlights 2 Alpha Seasons, multiple in-person events, tool upgrades, brand partnerships, and the first phase of The Sandbox 3.0.
Two Major Seasons Highlight Player Activity
This year, The Sandbox ran 2 Alpha Seasons for the first time. Combined, they saw over 144,000 players take part, completing more than 7.9 million quests and collecting over 200,000 NFTs. Alpha Season 5 introduced over 40 unique Experiences with content from Jurassic World, King Kong of Skull Island, Casio G-SHOCK, and more. Season 5 also brought in 3 new player Abilities: Fly, Double Jump, and Air Dance. The average playtime reached 97 minutes per session, and the event gave out $1 million in rewards.
Later, Alpha Season 6 launched with Cirque du Soleil as the headliner. It featured 30 Experiences and new Abilities like Dash and Glide. This season also introduced the Save Data feature across 16 Experiences, which allowed players to return to a game without losing progress. Top brands like Terminator and Chupa Chups appeared again, while fan favorites from Season 5 made their return.
Game Maker and Game Client See Major Upgrades
Key technical progress came with the release of Game Maker 0.11 and 0.12. These updates gave creators more control, especially for multiplayer games. New tools included Quick Play matchmaking, team scoring, and upgrades to multiplayer NPCs. The Save Data feature became a major step forward, allowing games to track player growth, in-game currencies, and level systems.
Other tools included redesigned character and camera controls, customizable HUDs, and improved game inputs. The Game Client received similar polish, including adaptive chat, improved UI, and visual enhancements like advanced water rendering. These changes helped improve both gameplay and creator experience across the board.
Avatar and Brand Content Continue to Grow
TSB expanded its Avatar collections by launching 10 new lines. Big names like Atari, Attack on Titan, and King Kong featured in this rollout. Brand-driven content stayed central to the platform, with new additions like Ubisoft's Champions Tactics, Lord Krishna, AVATARIs, The Smurfs, and ATEEZ.
New events throughout the year included story-rich gameplay from Crash! and historical themes in Heroes vs. Creatures, made in partnership with the British Museum. Meanwhile, Gordon Ramsay returned in an updated Hell's Kitchen event, and players explored a battle between man and machine in Terminator: Human vs Machines. These moments kept The Sandbox fresh with different play styles and visual stories.
Real-World Events Show Global Outreach
The platform also continued to connect with players offline. The team made appearances at NFT Paris, ETHDenver, NFT NYC, and TOKEN2049. In February, they hosted a side event at NFT Paris with Mocaverse, and in June, revealed the Cirque du Soleil partnership at NFT NYC.
The TOKEN2049 stop in Singapore marked the announcement of SANDchain, the platform's new Layer 2 network. This penthouse-style event, called SandHouse, included support from Animoca Brands and other web3 groups. Attendees joined for talks, showcases, and previews of what's next for The Sandbox.
Creator-Led Growth Moves Forward
This year saw a stronger shift toward user-generated content (UGC). Game Jams now serve as the base of every Alpha Season, with at least 20 UGC-made Experiences planned per Season going forward. New reward systems, polishing grants, and guaranteed slots were added to boost creator involvement.
Contests across Game Maker, VoxEdit, and Avatar design resulted in more than 400 Experiences, 376 new assets, and over 100 Avatar submissions. The Builders' Challenge 3 drew entries from more than 50 countries and produced nearly 500 Experiences. December's "Season's Greetings" holiday event even used community-made art to fill its daily Advent calendar.
The new Community Avatar Design Contest let creators submit characters using any format, from drawings to 3D models. The top 10 winners are now working with The Sandbox to launch their avatars as part of the first Community Collection, coming in 2026.
The Sandbox 3.0 and Ecosystem Expansion
The platform's 2025 roadmap led to the reveal of The Sandbox 3.0. This update seeks to turn the platform into a global distribution hub for digital culture, powered by web3 and AI. As of this year, the ecosystem includes more than 8 million users and over 400,000 creators.
The Sandbox began testing AI features that help automate content creation. These models are trained on a database of 1.7 million existing assets. A new partnership with Rosebud AI allows creators to generate code using natural language rather than syntax to simplify the game development process.
Mobile playtests also began this year, with broader tests planned. Meanwhile, the launch of Corners, a free content curation tool, gave users a new way to collect and share digital media. By adding Corners to its lineup alongside the Game, DAO, and SANDchain, The Sandbox now offers more paths for creator interaction beyond just game building.
SANDchain, DAO Activity, and Token Updates
At TOKEN2049, The Sandbox revealed SANDchain, a new Layer 2 solution built for faster and cheaper transactions. It supports $SAND, SAND Points, Creator Points, and Creator Tokens, linking creators and fans in a single onchain network. With the testnet now live, the mainnet launch is scheduled for 2026.
The platform also deepened its focus on community governance through The Sandbox DAO. This year, 20 proposals passed, including updates to LAND sales, NFT management, and grant funding. A total of 38 grants were awarded, giving away 200,000 USDC to creators across 20 countries.
Even with $SAND down 97% from its 2021 high, the token remains the base of the entire ecosystem. All new tools, upgrades, and side projects continue to build on $SAND, keeping it central to platform use.
A Year of Challenges and Restructuring
The strong finish to 2025 comes after a challenging mid-year shakeup. In August, The Sandbox confirmed a major internal restructuring, following reports that over half the staff had been laid off. Co-founders Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget stepped down from executive roles. Robby Yung, CEO of Investments at Animoca Brands, now leads the platform.
These cuts affected teams in Argentina, Turkey, South Korea, and more. Office closures also followed, with TSB clarifying that some were just small satellite locations. The company said the changes were tied to AI adoption and the need to stay agile.
Community feedback was mixed. While some voiced concerns about layoffs, others criticized the focus on celebrity partnerships over long-term user growth.
Looking Toward 2026
As 2025 comes to a close, The Sandbox is reaffirming its direction. While the platform continues to face industry pressures and token price swings, it remains focused on its vision of creator-led growth. Updates will continue across the Game, DAO, and SANDchain, while new AI tools and systems expand what's possible inside its growing world.
