Sandbox VR saw a 162.8 percent jump in sales from 2022 to 2024, along with 80 percent unit growth.
Sandbox VR is plugged into consumer demand. That’s to be expected with a brand on the cutting edge of experiential technology, said Matthew Kellie, senior vice president of marketing.
Brand recognition is Sandbox’s recipe for success. It partners with Netflix to bring familiar names to consumers. Since 2023, the company has launched virtual reality tie-ins with Netflix original series “Squid Game,” “Rebel Moon” and “Stranger Things,” three of the streaming service’s most-watched programs.
Sandbox is seeing the payoff. From 2022 to 2024, the brand reported a staggering 162.8 percent jump in sales—$75 million up from $28 million—along with 80 percent unit growth. It finished 2024 with 54 units and now is approaching 70.
Matthew Kellie is the senior vice president of marketing at Sandbox VR.
“It’s just a huge growth accelerant,” Kellie said. “Beyond just recognition with the [intellectual property] itself, we were able to create this venue where you can interact with the IP you love. You can touch it, you can feel it, you can experience it, be in it, hold it, instead of just viewing it on a screen. People seem to really connect with that kind of experiential deep dive into the other world.”
But being on the cutting edge means the company also faces an ongoing challenge of consumer adoption. Education and increased brand awareness look to counteract that.
“I think a lot of people may not know it exists, or if they’ve interacted with virtual reality technology, they’ve probably done so on some level of a consumer headset or a piece of technology that’s outdated,” Kellie said. “It really is this multipronged approach of helping customers understand this exists, what it is without being overly technical and then why the technology has come so much further than what they may have tried in the past.”