Saudi Arabia Inks MoU With The Sandbox For Metaverse Advancement

The Sandbox, a metaverse gaming platform has inked a partnership deal with Saudi Arabia to promote metaverse-related projects. According to the announcement made during the Leap Tech Conference which was held in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, the Middle East nation’s Digital Government Authority signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) whose details were not disclosed.

As a form of confirmation, Sebastien Borget the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Co-Founder of Sandbox took to LinkedIn to announce the partnership deal. 

“It was a true honor to sign our [memorandum of understanding] partnership … between The Sandbox and the Saudi Arabia Digital Government Authority,” he outlined, adding the aim of the MoU “We look forward to exploring, advising and supporting mutually each other in activations of the Metaverse!”

Saudi Arabia on a Metaverse Journey 

Saudi Arabia has successfully joined the likes of Dubai in the Middle East who previously launched its metaverse strategy. Mid-last year, Dubai through Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crowned prince of the region introduced the Dubai Metaverse Strategy to promote its digital economic advancement. 

At the time, Dubai was looking at adding as much as $4 billion to its economy in addition to providing over 40,000 jobs through the metaverse. The strategy was designed to run for five years, that is, till 2027. Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed had initially launched a Dubai Metaverse Assembly where global leaders and experts gather to discuss the future of the metaverse and its potential application.

“The metaverse is a promising digital world. We aim to harness this technology to enhance the quality of life in the UAE and across the globe,” Prince Hamdan reiterated “We want Dubai to lead globally in adopting the technology of the future, understanding its developments, harnessing its potential, and driving change.”

Similarly, The Sandbox has been on a partnership streak to promote blockchain and the metaverse in the last twelve months. Almost a year ago, the metaverse gaming platform collaborated with the Non-fungible token (NFT) community World of Women for the launch of WoW Foundation. Shortly after, it signed a deal with New York-based news magazine TIME to develop ‘TIME Square’.

Other platforms which have engaged The Sandbox in one form or the other include cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, Singaporean bank DBS, and South Korean commercial bank KEB Hana Bank amongst many others.