Following rumors of its restructuring, Animoca Brands’ executive chairman Yat Siu spoke to Cointelegraph to set the record straight on what’s going on with The Sandbox.
Labelling the rumors a “nothingburger”, Siu said Animoca Brands has stepped in to reorganize the company in a similar way to how Animoca itself has changed over the past couple of years, reducing its own headcount from a peak of 1,300 to a current level of around 1,000 staff.
Although not giving a figure for job losses, Siu pointed out that The Sandbox will continue to operate nine offices, with the offices that are being closed having a very small number of staff.
He also highlighted the way AI is impacting the games industry. “AI can make things faster”, he said. Hence the fact that The Sandbox is “cutting workforce shouldn’t be a surprise”.
However, Siu said he was most annoyed about the rumors The Sandbox‘s founders COO Sebastien Borget and CEO Arthur Madrid were being pushed out.
“Arthur is chairman, so will remain very involved,” he said, adding “Sebastien is still very involved as an ambassador.”
Teasing a future project, Siu mentioned that Borget is working on something “very big” – described as “a special project related to the SAND token and The Sandbox” – that will be announced in a few months.
Yet Siu did point out that The Sandbox has been facing a host of challenges, bluntly stating “Is The Sandbox doing as well as we had hoped for back in 2022? No.”
As part of the restructuring, Animoca Brands’ Robby Yung will step in as the new CEO of The Sandbox, leading the project to the next stage.
“We’re basically bringing The Sandbox to the next stage, building it up to something much stronger than it was before,” said Siu.
“We’re going to create an optimal organisation between Animoca and The Sandbox.”
“Robby coming in as CEO will make sure this can happen.”
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