Ebbe Altberg discussing Project Sansar

This week Nick Ochoa and Ebbe Altberg met up and discussed Project Sansar in a 30 minute  conversation. It’s a very interesting fireside discussion with some new updates to mention.

The latest update is that the start of the closed alpha testing will be happening in a few weeks from now and that it’s a bit behind schedule. The Alpha phase will continue for the rest of 2015/2016 with a public beta sometime in 2016. No set dates have been given yet.

Those that have been invited to the closed alpha will be able build their own experiences in Maya and publish the results on Sansar by pushing a button in the application.

In terms of Second Life active monthly users Ebbe mentioned it’s now south of 1 million with a rather slow and steady decline. At Second Life’s peak Ebbe mentioned it was north of 1 million for active monthly users for Second Life. Second Life is still going strong and people cashed out 60 million dollars last year.

Ebbe mentioned that Sansar land will be larger and cheaper. There will be a sales tax within the Sansar revenue model. VR will take years to get to a critical mass and VR will change the way we play/socialize.

Ebbe talks about ways that Second Life can be used such as musicians in SL concerts, selling clothing, virtual goods and there was a mention on the 1920s Berlin project.

The lab will be hand picking people for the alpha with the right skill set and the doors will open next year to the public. It’s going to be long journey ahead and it’s going to be fun ride.

Stay tuned for more news on Sansar in the months ahead. 🙂