Welcome to McNuggets Land: McDonald’s Launches Metaverse Game in ‘The Sandbox’

Major brands are still building in the metaverse, despite the sagging hype. Case in point: McDonald’s Hong Kong just unveiled McNuggets Land, an official world that’s now live in The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse game.

McNuggets Land celebrates the 40th anniversary of the fast food giant’s popular Chicken McNuggets menu item, serving up a vibrant game location filled with anthropomorphized nugget characters, decor inspired by dipping sauces, and playable quests with both real-world and blockchain-based rewards.

Although launched by the fast food giant’s Hong Kong division, the game world is available to play globally. The location will be live in The Sandbox until August 28.

Some rewards are exclusive to Hong Kong-based players, such as coupons for free food redeemable at local McDonald’s restaurants, while other rewards like NFT-based in-game items and SAND crypto tokens can be won by players located anywhere.

“Rooted in Hong Kong for 48 years, McDonald’s has always strived to deliver innovative experiences and happy moments,” said McDonald’s Hong Kong CEO Randy Lai, in a release. “We are excited to collaborate with The Sandbox to provide fun-filled Web3 metaverse game experience themed on McDonald’s for our customers.”

This isn’t the first time that McDonald’s has dabbled in the Web3 world. McDonald’s France launched NFT artwork inspired by the Big Mac sandwich in April 2021, while the main American division of the company debuted McRib-inspired NFTs in November 2021.

Linking up with major brands is typical for The Sandbox, too. The metaverse game world, which is based around user-owned NFT land plots that can be customized and resold, has already looped in companies, celebrities, and IP like Adidas, Gucci, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Ubisoft, Warner Music Group, and plenty more.