Bored Apes and Moonbirds to get playable avatars in new Sandbox season

Holders of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from some popular collections will be able to play as avatars based on their NFTs in The Sandbox’s Alpha Season 3, which launches on Wednesday.

Thirteen major NFT collections, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Moonbirds and World of Women are part of the rollout.

“If you own those NFTs, those 2D images, you will be able to see them become a 3D character on the avatar creator and immediately interact with them,” explained The Sandbox COO and co-founder Sébastien Borget during a walkthrough of the platform on Tuesday.

The company said the decision to roll out this option was part of The Sandbox’s commitment to interoperability. A subsidiary of Animoca Brands — whose chairman Yat Siu regularly speaks about interoperability — The Sandbox was a founding member of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 (OMA3) DAO.

“We are excited to develop new use cases for the owners of these collections, starting with digital identity and the ability to create the worlds for these NFTs to be played with and evolve,” said Borget.

The Sandbox released Alpha Season 1, the first playable version of its metaverse, in late 2021. The second season launched in March 2022 and attracted 350k players. 

It is hoping to top that with its third run. The company said it will feature nearly 100 experiences over 10 weeks, including collaborations with brands such as Ubisoft’s Rabbids, Care Bears, Snoop Dogg and Atari. It will also feature user-generated content and 20 experiences supported by The Sandbox Game Maker Fund.