The Sandbox Crypto Game Plots First Public LAND Sale

The Sandbox, an upcoming Ethereum blockchain-driven online game, will hold its first public sale for in-game plots of terrain, which are called LAND. The public sale will take place starting on February 11, and follows several sold-out presale offerings.

The game’s first public sale will see the release of 1,200 individual plots of LAND Premium, which are priced at 4,683 SAND each—approximately $435 as of this writing. Additionally, auctions will be held for larger Estates, or multi-LAND plots. Seven medium (6x6) and two large (12x12) Estates will be offered to the highest bidder for each on the OpenSea marketplace.

The team behind The Sandbox and publisher Animoca Brands have partnered with crypto tracking and market analysis site CoinMarketCap to promote the first public LAND sale. Each LAND Premium parcel comes with two hero character non-fungible tokens (NFTs) inspired by CoinMarketCap’s branding, with a total of six heroes created for the promotion.

Buyers who purchase multiple plots and manage to collect the five “Epic” rarity heroes before the promotion ends can claim the “Legendary” CoinMarketCaptain hero, which will never be released outside of this particular event. The Sandbox previously partnered with CoinMarketCap to launch a “Learn & Earn” campaign for users to receive SAND currency in return for learning about the game.

“Following our successful $SAND token Learn & Earn campaign with CoinMarketCap, we’re partnering with them to launch our exclusive new CMC NFT Hero characters that players and creators can use to create their own adventures and stories,” said Sebastien Borget, COO & co-founder of The Sandbox, in a release. Borget suggested in the release that this would be the first of many NFT collaborations with other crypto firms.

The Sandbox provides an open world for players to explore as they customize their characters and experience the game worlds scattered across the terrain. LAND owners can use their space to create and even monetize interactive play experiences. The PC game features voxel graphics with a look that recalls Minecraft, albeit with more in-depth customization options.

Several notable brands have already bought into The Sandbox ecosystem via partnerships with Animoca Brands, including Atari, The Smurfs, Square Enix, Binance, Care Bears, CryptoKitties, and more.

Additionally, LAND sales have attracted crypto “NFT whales” who see significant future growth potential in digital property rights. A public alpha version of The Sandbox is expected to launch sometime this quarter.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article included mention of video game studio Pixowl as the developer of The Sandbox. Pixowl is no longer affiliated with the game.