Sandbox VR
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| Sandbox VR | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Industry | Location-based virtual reality |
| Founded | 2016, Hong Kong |
| Founder | Steve Zhao |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Notable Personnel | Steve Zhao (founder and CEO) |
| Products | Multiplayer full-body VR experiences sold at corporate and franchised venues |
| Website | https://sandboxvr.com |
Sandbox VR is a location-based virtual reality company that runs venues where groups of up to six players wear headsets, haptic vests and body-worn motion sensors to play short multiplayer VR experiences. It was founded in Hong Kong in 2016 by Steve Zhao, opened its first venue there in June 2017 under the name GloStation, and is now headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Hong Kong and Vancouver.[1][2]
The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, which led its 68 million US dollar Series A in 2019 and its 37 million US dollar Series B in 2021.[1][3] Its US subsidiary went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 after pandemic closures cut off its revenue.[4] Sandbox VR then grew mainly through franchising and licensed Netflix titles such as Squid Game Virtuals. In March 2026 it reported more than 80 venues in 13 countries, more than five million lifetime players and 300 million US dollars in lifetime sales.[2][5]
History
Founding as GloStation
Before Sandbox VR, Steve Zhao spent about a decade building the game developer Blue Tea Games, and he wrote that he put his entire savings into the new company.[1] The South China Morning Post described the company as starting on the 16th floor of a building in a Hong Kong back alley.[6] The first venue opened in Hong Kong in June 2017 as GloStation, a name the company later dropped for Sandbox VR. Before its Series A, it raised 3 million US dollars in a round led by Alibaba. Zhao wrote that bookings were slow until a Facebook video of the experience was shared thousands of times, after which the venue was booked for three months straight.[1]
Series A and US expansion (2019)
On 28 January 2019 Sandbox VR announced a 68 million US dollar Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.[1] TechCrunch listed Floodgate, Stanford University, TriplePoint Capital, CRCM, Shrug Capital and Alibaba as other participants, and counted seven locations across Asia and North America at the time. Andrew Chen of Andreessen Horowitz told TechCrunch that location-based VR would "split off and be its own form factor", with large, multi-person spaces and premium hardware, and suggested a single venue could scale to 10 or 20 rooms the way a cinema has many screens.[7] UploadVR reported that the company planned to open more than half a dozen new locations, including Los Angeles, Austin, Chicago and New York.[1]
Pandemic and Chapter 11 (2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic closed Sandbox VR's venues in North America and Asia in 2020. According to Road to VR, the company lost "100% of the revenue", laid off 80 percent of its staff, and saw an anticipated 50 million US dollar equity round and plans for about 20 new locations halted. In August 2020 its US subsidiary, Glostation USA Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, California. The parent company, Sandbox VR Inc., restructured 13.6 million US dollars of secured debt so the subsidiary could keep operating, and a court-approved reorganization plan let Glostation USA emerge from Chapter 11 in late November 2020.[4]
The South China Morning Post reported in January 2022 that the company had eliminated its research and development team and shrunk from about 100 employees to about 40. It reopened its venues in April 2021, opened new locations in Austin, Las Vegas and Shanghai from July 2021, and reported a 20-fold increase in revenue over eight months.[6]
Series B and franchising (2021-2025)
On 10 November 2021 Sandbox VR announced a 37 million US dollar Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Alibaba and Craft also investing. Road to VR put the company's total outside financing at about 120 million US dollars. At that point it had 12 venues in North America and Asia and planned 10 more for 2022, including Paramus (New Jersey), Toronto and London.[3]
In May 2024 the company announced a deal with Apparel Group, a UAE-based fashion and lifestyle company, to open 25 Sandbox VR venues in the Middle East by the end of 2028. It had more than 46 locations at the time, 18 of them opened in the previous 19 months, and had begun offering franchises in the US and abroad.[8]
In January 2025 Sandbox VR raised 6.8 million US dollars through a convertible note led by Gobi Partners, with Abacus Ventures and Hyphen Capital also taking part. The company said its franchise operators had grown from 8 to 25 during 2024, that it ran 54 locations, sold 1.4 million tickets in 2024, and that an average US location took in 1.7 million US dollars a year. It projected 200 stores by the end of 2027.[9] In February 2025 the company passed 200 million US dollars in lifetime ticket sales with more than 50 venues, and had recently opened its first German venue at East Side Mall in Berlin.[10]
2026
On 26 March 2026, around the company's 10th anniversary, Sandbox VR reported 300 million US dollars in lifetime sales, more than 80 venues on five continents in 13 countries, more than five million lifetime players and nearly 150,000 players a month, with about 70 percent of guests booking online in advance.[2][5] New venues followed through the year. A franchise in Barcelona's Les Glòries shopping centre, the company's first in Spain, opened on 1 October 2026 with three private rooms for groups of up to six; the announcement gave the network as more than 90 locations and more than six million lifetime tickets.[11]
| Date | Venues | Source |
|---|---|---|
| January 2019 | 7 (Asia and North America) | TechCrunch[7] |
| November 2021 | 12 (North America and Asia) | Road to VR[3] |
| February 2023 | More than 30 | UploadVR[12] |
| May 2024 | More than 46 | Road to VR[8] |
| January 2025 | 54 | Company release[9] |
| March 2026 | More than 80, in 13 countries | Company release[2] |
| September 2026 | More than 90, in 13 countries | Company release[11] |
Technology
Sandbox VR tracks each player's whole body. Players wear sensors on the wrists, ankles, chest and head, so their avatars move as they do.[10] When it raised its Series A, TechCrunch described a setup of headsets, PC backpacks, tracked toy rifles, motion capture and haptic vests, with the early content built as wave shooters.[7] Motion-capture company Vicon has supplied tracking systems to the company since 2019, starting with the launch of Amber Sky 2088, and by September 2022 its technology was installed at more than 26 Sandbox VR locations.[13]
In October 2025 UploadVR reported that venues used the HTC Vive Focus 3, that Sandbox VR planned to move to the HTC Vive Focus Vision the following year, and that sessions combined a haptic vest, wrist and ankle trackers and fans that create wind effects.[14] After a session, players get a personalized highlight video of their game.[12]
Experiences
Sandbox VR's in-house studio makes its experiences, which are designed for teams of up to six.[15] Rebel Moon: The Descent was the studio's 10th experience.[16] The company's March 2026 list of titles included its original Deadwood series (Deadwood Mansion, Deadwood Valley and Deadwood PHOBIA, more than one million tickets combined), Curse of Davy Jones, Amber Sky 2088, Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire and UFL: Unbound Fighting League.[5][2] It has also run a licensed Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission experience.[3][12]
| Experience | Licensor or partner | Launch | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amber Sky 2088 | Original | 2019 | Launch supported by Vicon tracking[13] |
| Squid Game Virtuals | Netflix | 29 September 2023 | Players compete in games from the series such as "Red Light, Green Light" and "Cross the Glass Bridge"; reached 1 million US dollars in sales faster than any earlier Sandbox VR title and took 4.56 million US dollars in its first two months; more than 50 million US dollars in lifetime sales by March 2026[15][8][2] |
| Rebel Moon: The Descent | Netflix | Preview in London, April 2024; all locations from January 2025 | Based on Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon; second Netflix collaboration[16] |
| Stranger Things: Catalyst | Netflix | 20 October 2025 | 25-minute session for up to six players using a wand-like "Catalyst" device; third Netflix collaboration[14] |
| Age of Dinosaurs | Natural History Museum, London | 3 April 2026 | Made with palaeontologist Darren Naish; launched at all Sandbox VR locations[17] |
In its impressions of Stranger Things: Catalyst, UploadVR called the core wave-shooter gameplay "undeniably dated" and recommended the experience mainly to fans of the series.[14]
Investors
Besides Andreessen Horowitz and Alibaba, the company's investors listed in its 2026 announcements include the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners, Craft and Stanford University, along with celebrity backers such as Kevin Durant, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Will Smith.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Ian Hamilton (2019-01-28). "Sandbox VR Raises $68 Million Series A Led By Andreessen Horowitz". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/sandbox-vr-68-million/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Sandbox VR Accelerates Growth, Hitting $300M in Lifetime Sales and Scaling to more than 80 Global Locations, Continued Expansion Underway through 2026". PR Newswire. Sandbox VR. 2026-03-26. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandbox-vr-accelerates-growth-hitting-300m-in-lifetime-sales-and-scaling-to-more-than-80-global-locations-continued-expansion-underway-through-2026-302726552.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Scott Hayden (2021-11-10). "Sandbox VR Announces $37M Series B Funding to Expand Out-of-home VR Locations". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/sandbox-vr-37m-series-b-funding/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Scott Hayden (2020-12-10). "VR Destination 'Sandbox VR' Emerges from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy After Reorganization". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/celebrity-backed-vr-destination-sandbox-vr-falters-us-subsidiary-files-bankruptcy/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Dean Takahashi (2026-03-26). "Sandbox VR hits $300M in lifetime sales and grows to 80 locations". GamesBeat. https://gamesbeat.com/sandbox-vr-hits-300m-in-lifetime-sales-and-grows-to-80-locations/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Hong Kong's Sandbox VR was nearly killed by Covid, but it now has global ambitions amid surging demand". South China Morning Post (via Yahoo Finance). 2022-01-23. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kongs-sandbox-vr-nearly-093000136.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lucas Matney (2019-01-28). "5 years after its Oculus investment, a16z leads a new VR startup's $68M Series A". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/28/5-years-after-its-oculus-investment-a16z-leads-a-new-vr-startups-68m-series-a/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Scott Hayden (2024-05-09). "VR Attraction Sandbox VR Announces Major Expansion With 25 New Locations in the Coming Years". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/vr-attraction-sandbox-vr-25-locations/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "New Funding to Accelerate Sandbox VR's Global Franchise Program Set for Explosive Growth, With 200 Projected Stores in 2027". Taiwan News (Media OutReach Newswire). Sandbox VR. 2025-01-21. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/6020137. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2025-02-17). "Location-based Sandbox VR crosses $200 million in lifetime ticket sales". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/sandbox-vr-sales-milestone-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Sandbox VR Expands to Spain with New Les Glòries Venue in Barcelona, Opening October 1". PR Newswire. Sandbox VR. 2026-09-24. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandbox-vr-expands-to-spain-with-new-les-glories-venue-in-barcelona-opening-october-1-302888560.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Henry Stockdale (2023-02-09). "Squid Game Coming To Sandbox VR Locations In Late 2023". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/squid-game-vr-experience-netflix-sandboxvr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Vicon wins additional contracts to strengthen partnership with LBVR provider Sandbox VR". Auganix. 2022-09-30. https://www.auganix.org/vicon-wins-additional-contracts-to-strengthen-partnership-with-lbvr-provider-sandbox-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Henry Stockdale (2025-10-20). "Stranger Things: Catalyst Is Out Now At Sandbox VR". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/stranger-things-catalyst-impressions/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Sandbox VR and Netflix 'Squid Game Virtuals' location-based VR experience coming September 29". Auganix. 2023-09-27. https://www.auganix.org/vr-news-sandbox-vr-netflix-announce-squid-game-virtuals-vr-experience/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Jennifer Maas (2025-01-06). "'Rebel Moon' VR Game Launches From Netflix, Sandbox VR (Exclusive)". Variety (via Yahoo). https://tech.yahoo.com/streaming/articles/rebel-moon-vr-game-launches-180020619.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Dinosaur experience launching at Sandbox VR this week". Amusements and Attractions. 2026-03-31. https://www.amusementsandattractions.com/attractions/news/dinosaur-experience-launching-at-sandbox-vr-this-week. Retrieved 2026-10-04.