2026 Traits: The Sandbox's Robby Yung says consider token rewards rather more like UA spend

It’s probably the most fantastic time of the yr, the time to look again and contemplate what we realized throughout 2025 and learn how to take advantage of that data in 2026. 

On this article we meet up with The Sandbox’s new CEO Robby Yung.

What was probably the most important development for blockchain video games in 2025?

Robby Yung: I don’t know if this qualifies as a development, however I did observe an general tightening of the market, that means that much less video games had been being funded, and this implies much less groups had been coming collectively to attempt to construct within the house, and this led to an general slowing of development. 

I believe there was a normal notion that constructing on the intersection of video games and blockchain is just not solely tough (it's), however one thing that was so considerably out of favour (judging primarily by the token costs of sport initiatives) with the web3 audiences, that it was not value substantial additional funding. 

In consequence, the consumer exercise was usually extra targeted on present initiatives, particularly these with sturdy and sturdy communities (Axie Infinity, Guild of Guardians, The Sandbox, and so on.).

How did The Sandbox adapt to those modifications?

We actually tried to deal with grass roots neighborhood constructing and leveraging what web3 is superb at – rewarding and retaining customers by way of possession.

Shared possession, when mated with a typical goal (leisure, co-creation, and so on.) might be probably the most highly effective device we now have as sport makers as of late, and that is one thing that we actually tried to reinforce.

How do you assume this can change in 2026?

I believe that in 2026 we must always see a return of “alts” which, after all, consists of sport and sport infrastructure tokens, and this can even result in a renewed curiosity in video games from the web3 native viewers. This doesn't, essentially, equate to onboarding extra web2 customers, which is one thing that we nonetheless very a lot must do as an business.

What was your favorite blockchain sport throughout 2025?

My favorite blockchain sport was Anichess, though I’m a bit biased, because it’s one in all our video games. 

Nevertheless, what I like about it's that it leans into a lot of issues which might be nice about constructing video games in web3 – it builds on a easy, however confirmed mannequin (chess), and supplies incremental improvements (the spell mechanic) whereas actually constructing a robust neighborhood by way of NFT collections, tokenised reward / competitors mechanics, and so on.

What’s your New Yr’s decision and what decision would you implement on the business?

I believe web3 sport builders must assume rather more about UI/UX and their consumer onboarding course of, and I believe they want to consider token rewards rather more like money UA spend, and this can assist to keep away from incentivising unfavorable behaviour (i.e. farming with no ensuing engagement).

Learn all our Finish of Yr options through the EOY 2025 tag.

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