Sebastien Borget, the co-founder and COO of The Sandbox, has played a crucial role in enabling players to create, play, manage, and monetize their unique experiences within...
Sebastien Borget
Sebastien Borget, the co-founder and COO of The Sandbox, has played a crucial role in enabling players to create, play, manage, and monetize their unique experiences within The Sandbox's virtual world using NFTs and SAND (utility tokens). Additionally, he has been actively involved as the president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, a non-profit organization composed of prominent figures in the blockchain gaming industry.
Career in the Mobile Gaming Industry
Sebastien Borget studied Computer Systems, Networking, and Telecommunications at Télécom SudParis, and he further pursued a Master's degree in the same field at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. During his university years, Borget interned at Motorola and later took on the role of Technical Project Manager at 1-Click Media Networks after completing his Master's degree. In this capacity, he oversaw the development of an order-based video content management system and managed the solutions for peer-to-peer content transmission.
Before co-founding Pixowl and The Sandbox, Borget served as the COO at Wixi.com, an entertainment service that facilitated connections among gamers worldwide. Additionally, he gained experience as a Technical Project Manager at Ipercast, a specialized content management and service provider based in Paris.
In 2011, Sebastien Borget departed from Wixi.com and Ipercast to co-establish Pixowl, a mobile game development company. As the COO, he successfully managed a diverse team of 25 international members, overseeing the development of prominent game titles for both iOS and Android platforms. Notably, he took charge of the production and marketing efforts for the studio's most popular mobile games, such as Doodle Grub and The Sandbox, the latter of which received recognition as the Best Game on the App Store in 2012 and 2013.
Embracing Blockchain and Expanding into the Metaverse
The Sandbox originated as a mobile game approximately ten years ago, with the aim of empowering players and users to bring their imaginative ideas to life while ensuring easy accessibility. Despite amassing an impressive record of 40 million downloads and 70 million creations, The Sandbox encountered ongoing challenges in maintaining consistent engagement from creators. Recognizing the limitations of relying solely on social recognition, Borget explored the possibility of revenue sharing. However, implementing such a feature on the existing platform proved unattainable.
In late 2017, Borget embarked on an exploration of blockchain technology, which led him to discover CryptoKitties, a game that enabled users to directly purchase digital assets. Convinced that combining NFTs with user-generated content could address the challenges at hand, Borget set his sights on a new goal within The Sandbox: allowing anyone to create their own NFTs for use within the game.
The acquisition of Pixowl by Animoca Brands in 2018 marked a significant turning point, serving as a pivotal moment in the development of a blockchain-based version of The Sandbox. At the heart of The Sandbox metaverse lies a wide array of NFTs, including 3D objects and virtual real estate created through the VoxelEdit program. Supporting these assets is the SAND utility token and a token economy, which have become instrumental in driving the growth and transactional activities within the metaverse. Furthermore, The Sandbox has cultivated partnerships with renowned character IPs, such as Snoop Dogg and the Smurfs, as well as companies like Line Studio and TOEI Animation, to foster a thriving ecosystem.
"A myriad of virtual worlds users can navigate through with an avatar, which is the representation of themselves, and which becomes their new digital identity. With it, they can access all sorts of experiences that are more immersive, more creative, more fun with more social interactions and more gaming. In the metaverse they can take this identity, their belongings, their digital assets, their wearable, their equipment, their gaming assets, their virtual land, their virtual houses, and even their currency from one world to another without having to ask for permission to any of the platforms where the content may be first acquired, earned or created. That's really the true metaverse.” — Interview: Sébastien Borget, Co-founder and COO of The Sandbox
Furthermore, in 2020, Borget assumed the role of founding chairman of the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA), taking the lead in establishing common standards and fostering networking and knowledge sharing to integrate blockchain technology into video games. Stressing the importance of interoperability in the metaverse, he envisions a future where users can seamlessly transfer digital assets across multiple platforms, as highlighted in an interview with Sia Partners. He also anticipates that users will possess multiple wallets spanning different blockchains, underscoring the need for enhanced user experience. The recent move of The Sandbox to the Polygon chain, a layer 2 scaling solution, to provide users with faster and more cost-effective transaction capabilities, aligns perfectly with his vision.
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Writer: Chris Park, Research Contributor at DeSpread
Reviewed by Do Dive, Research Lead at DeSpread
#The Sandbox #Sebastien Borget