3 December 2026
[LOS ANGELES], March 12, 2026. The Smiley Company is launching its first interactive gaming experience through a partnership with The Sandbox, the immersive metaverse platform and subsidiary of Animoca Brands. Smiley® Factory, a playable business tycoon game set inside a Smiley®-branded clothing factory, is available now inside The Sandbox as part of the platform’s Season 7, which introduces broader browser-based access and a lineup of brand and creator-built experiences.
Smiley Factory is a 15 to 20-minute experience where players run a production line, crafting The Original Smiley® apparel by hand before investing earnings into automation, room expansions, and higher-value products. Players progress from T-shirts through jeans, hoodies, sweatshirts, caps, and jackets, scaling their factory to generate as much output as possible before the session timer ends.
The partnership marks Smiley’s entry into playable digital experiences. The brand has operated across fashion, beauty, and design for more than 50 years, with partners including Raf Simons, Loewe, Moschino, Armani, Richard Mille, L’Oreal group, Adidas and more,. However, this partnership with Sandbox is the first time that Smiley has worked with a partner to create interactive, player-driven content.
Season 7 Context
The Sandbox’s Season 7 launched on February 25, 2026. It features 32 playable experiences, browser-based access (no download required), and a 650,000 SAND reward pool. Other IP partners this season include Atari, Black Mirror, The Terminator, Bruce Lee, and Steve Aoki. Player progress in Smiley Factory contributes directly to Season 7 battle pass progression.
Alongside the experience, The Sandbox is releasing its first avatar collectible on Amazon, with Smiley as the first IP partner for this distribution channel.
“Smiley is one of those rare brands that has lived across fashion, music, and culture for decades, so building a playable experience around it felt like a very natural fit,” said Robby Yung, CEO of The Sandbox. “Season 7 has been about bringing in recognizable IP and making the platform more accessible, and Smiley Factory is a strong example of that. We’re also introducing our first avatar collectible on Amazon through this partnership, which we think is an important step in reaching new audiences.”
“We’re incredibly excited to launch the Smiley Factory as part of The Sandbox Season 7. This is the first playable experience that we have launched and we wanted it to reinforce our heritage and give a nod to the Smiley T-shirt which is one of the most iconic garments in the history of fashion. Sandbox has an engaged audience and we’re excited to see how they interact with Smiley Factory, as well as creating a unique avatar collectible offering.” Said Nicolas Loufrani, CEO, The Smiley Company.
Smiley Factory is available now inside The Sandbox as part of Season 7. The Smiley avatar collectible on Amazon will be available at the end of March 2026. For more information about The Sandbox and any upcoming launches please visit sandbox.game/blog and follow The Sandbox on X, Discord, and Instagram for regular updates.
As featured by TotalLicensing.com. Read their full coverage of the Smiley x The Sandbox: Smiley Factory Game.
About The Smiley Company
The Smiley Company is a global leader in licensing, renowned for its iconic Smiley brand that spreads positivity and happiness across various products and collaborations. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, The Smiley Company continues to inspire joy in the hearts of consumers worldwide through its diverse range of licensed offerings.
Smiley has been spreading joy and optimism to generations since French journalist Franklin Loufrani created the trademarked original Smiley brand in 1972. In 1996 Nicolas Loufrani, son of Franklin, took over the helm, steering Smiley into the digital revolution. Creating a whole new way of communicating, he added 20 categories of icons such as emotions, food, nations, nature, animals, occupations or objects under the brand SmileyWorld, which have inspired all the other icons that are now sent around the world in digital communication. Both IPs, Smiley and SmileyWorld, under the creative and marketing guidance of the Smiley studio are developed into thousands of products each year through partnerships with iconic brands and retailers.
Continuing to influence modern culture, Smiley is one of the world’s top global IP enterprises collaborating on high-profile activities spanning fashion, art, homeware, food and beverage. Major partnerships include Loewe, Moschino, Raf Simons, Eastpak and LA-based Market, who produce the Market Smiley Basketball – a cultural icon.
About The Sandbox
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is an immersive metaverse platform in which users play, create, and monetize unique experiences alongside their favorite brands, IPs, and celebrities across gaming, entertainment, music, art, and more. The Sandbox leverages web3 technologies to fully enable end-user creation and creator economies, disrupting existing platforms by providing both Players and Creators with true ownership of their assets, creations, and rewards as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Over 400 partners have joined The Sandbox, including Warner Music Group, Gucci, Ubisoft, Paris Hilton, Attack on Titan, Snoop Dogg, Lacoste, Steve Aoki, The Smurfs, and many more. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner and ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2023, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gaming. The company has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Bondly, and Lympo. In addition, Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 150 investments in blockchain companies and decentralized projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information, visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.