Animoca Brands' subsidiary The Sandbox has undergone a significant restructuring involving major leadership changes and a strategic pivot away from metaverse development. Co-founders Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget have transitioned to non-operational roles, with Madrid moving from CEO to chairman and Borget becoming global ambassador.
The company is reducing its workforce by over 50% globally, affecting more than 250 employees worldwide. This drastic measure is part of an operational optimization strategy that leverages artificial intelligence advancements to maintain a "leaner, more agile team" while accelerating content deployment.
The Sandbox's valuation has dramatically declined from $4 billion in 2022 to approximately $1 billion in 2024, reflecting broader market shifts away from metaverse projects. The restructuring mirrors similar adjustments made by Decentraland post-2021, suggesting industry-wide challenges for metaverse platforms.
The company is pivoting toward Web3 and memecoin initiatives, with reports indicating plans to launch a memecoin launchpad on Coinbase's layer-2 network Base, modeled after Solana's Pump.fun marketplace. While Borget declined to "speculate on market rumors," he emphasized the company's commitment to empowering creators and growing their token economy.
Despite the changes, company representatives state that The Sandbox's virtual assets, including the SAND token, LANDs, and NFT collections, "remain unchanged." The community response has been mixed, with market experts suggesting that memecoin initiatives could potentially rehabilitate The Sandbox's ecosystem in the long term.