The Sandbox: Metaverse project announces mass layoffs

INFBusiness
30.08.2025
Markets

The parent company Animoca Brands has now confirmed mass layoffs at the metaverse project The Sandbox.
According to media reports, more than half of the approximately two hundred and fifty employees will lose their jobs.
The closure of offices is also being considered. This affects locations in France, Argentina, Uruguay, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey.
Animoca cites advances in generative AI and the need to streamline processes as reasons for this.
Co-founders Sébastien Borget and Arthur Madrid are stepping down from their operational roles and transitioning to new roles. Robby Yung will become the new CEO of Sandbox, holding two executive board positions within the company. Read his thoughts on the future of blockchain gaming in this interview: Animoca Brands: Do Blockchain Gaming and Web3 Have a Future?
According to the company, The Sandbox remains part of Animoca's strategy. At the same time, the company is exploring the development of new crypto apps, including a memecoin launch platform on Base.
The SAND token barely reacted to the news and remained largely unchanged on a daily basis.
Month-on-month, SAND recorded a decline of four percent.
The Sandbox was originally created as a metaverse game based on the Ethereum blockchain. It promised users the opportunity to buy, trade, and develop virtual real estate and garnered significant attention during the 2021/2022 metaverse hype. Despite significant funding and prominent partnerships, the project failed to meet long-term expectations and fell significantly short of its original growth forecasts.
Other projects like Decentraland have suffered similarly. Here, too, investors' high expectations were never truly met.

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