The Sandbox Partners with SHIBUYA109 to Launch “SHIBUYA109 LAND”
Famous Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo Makes a Full-scale Entry into the Metaverse
HONG KONG – March 7, 2022 – The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, announced today it has entered into a business alliance with SHIBUYA109 Entertainment Corporation to bring SHIBUYA109 to The Sandbox metaverse with the aim of creating an exciting playground where virtual tourists can have thrilling experiences and enjoy next-generation customer experiences.
The partnership will establish a dedicated LAND in The Sandbox metaverse where SHIBUYA109 will sell original NFTs, provide mini-games, and serve advertising in a virtual recreation of the famous Tokyo district. This LAND can connect fans of Tokyo’s Shibuya special ward from around the world, with a complete voxel representation of Shibuya Crossing. SHIBUYA109 is looking to partner with companies in Japan and the main Shibuya district to rent buildings and offer advertising space in the virtual Shibuya Crossing to share their brands globally.
“We were among the first to focus on the metaverse and NFT, and have been preparing for it since April 2021. 2021 is said to be the first year of NFT, and 2022 the first year of the metaverse, and we have decided to enter The Sandbox, a popular blockchain game,” said Ayumi Ishikawa, Representative Director, SHIBUYA109 ENTERTAINMENT Inc. “We are very much looking forward to the challenge of a new field that is different from our existing business. At SHIBUYA109 LAND, we will not only offer new experiences that only the Metaverse can provide, but we will also collaborate with various artists and characters, as we have done in the real world, so that many people, both in Japan and overseas, will be able to play the game. I hope that this project will help people to become interested in the metaverse and NFTs.”
SHIBUYA109 will bring the famous Tokyo district to the world. With current travel restrictions and other limitations caused by the global pandemic, it continues to be difficult for tourists to visit Japan. By creating a virtual representation of the famous Shibuya ward, including the SHIBUYA109 department store, inside The Sandbox, SHIBUYA109 hopes to attract users from all over the world, enabling virtual tourists to experience a slice of Tokyo’s culture.
“We welcome SHIBUYA109 to The Sandbox as one of the leading brands and host of the most recognizable tourist location in Japan,” said Sébastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “SHIBUYA109’s LAND is poised to become an epicenter of culture in the open metaverse, as it already is in the real world, and we’ll work with their team on making this famous location and Japanese culture globally accessible to everyone in the metaverse, as an iconic place where lifestyle, music, fashion, and socializing match up.”
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About The Sandbox
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner and ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification. It develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E. The company has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Bondly, Lympo, and Grease Monkey Games. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 150 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.
About Shibuya 109
The company operates four facilities, centering on the SHIBUYA109 Shibuya store (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo). With the corporate philosophy of “Making You SHINE! – shining the ‘now’ of the new generation and making their dreams and wishes come true,” the company is developing its entertainment business beyond the operation of commercial facilities in order to shine the “now” of the new generation who will be responsible for the future and make their dreams and wishes come true. With the corporate philosophy of “shining the “now” and making dreams and wishes come true,” the company develops entertainment businesses that go beyond the operation of commercial facilities in order to shine the “now” and make dreams and wishes come true for the new generation that will lead the future.
Establishment: April 3, 2017
Representative Director: Ayumi Ishikawa