Wookey To Transition Sansar To Metaverse Investments LTD

Breaking News

Today Chance Richie shared some exciting news via the Sansar Discord channel about how Wookey will be transitioning the Sansar platform to Metaverse Investments Ltd to get Sansar back on track again after recent months. Metaverse Investments Ltd is looking forward to the challenge ahead and resolving problems that have happened. The goal is for the engineering team to come in to get things “fixed and stabilize the platform” asap. This is good news for Sansar in the short term and long term I think.

The Sansar team in recent months have been limited but have done a good job to keep the Sansar platform alive and in search of new leadership/capital. Over the next month there will be transitions happening.

A new vision for Sansar…

My strategic vision is focused on providing the Creator community the tools they need to build the most engaging worlds, quests, and experiences in the Metaverse. I strongly believe that if we fulfill that vision, visitors and residents will come in droves.

This could be a great opportunity for Sansar to get back in the game again and have a new beginning. Oriym has the best intentions for the users and creators of Sansar. Oriym is in it for the long run apparently and he wants to make Sansar a success.

Hello Sansarians! My name is Chance Richie, and I will be working with Wookey to transition the Sansar platform to Metaverse Investments Ltd. Wookey Technologies has been diligently looking for the right candidate to take over the responsibility of progressing Sansar to the next level, and Metaverse Investments Ltd is looking forward to the challenge.

I am working with the Wookey Team to get Sansar back on track. In my opinion, the Wookey Team has done a lot of good work on the platform and has had to work through many challenges inherited from the Linden Labs acquisition. I believe the Wookey Team has been fully committed to the platform and expanding it to a broader audience by focusing on the true immersive VR Metaverse experience. I understand that there has been some history with the former direction and team, however what is most important is focusing on the future and making Sansar the most Creator-friendly Metaverse on the planet. My strategic vision is focused on providing the Creator community the tools they need to build the most engaging worlds, quests, and experiences in the Metaverse. I strongly believe that if we fulfill that vision, visitors and residents will come in droves. We understand Sansar has problems that need to take care of as soon as possible and it has been a challenge to address these issues with a limited team. My first priority is bringing in the engineering talent necessary to get things fixed and stabilize the platform. So do not despair, help is coming soon!

In the meantime, I want you to know how amazing I think the Sansar platform is, and that I see great potential. That potential will only be realized if we are successful engaging the Sansar Community, so to that end I’d like to restart the meetings Ebbe Altberg used to do in Sansar. More to come on that!

The second part says this

Rest assured, we did our homework and know Sansar has a great community that is welcoming to new users. The Sansar Discord has also been a great way to pass knowledge on to new people and I have gotten more familiar with the platform as a result of following the channel. No question seems to be too difficult or tiring for you. Sansar is clearly “for the people, by the people”, and we want to amplify that culture.

And last but not least, I’d like to thank the Sansar ambassadors and helpers who have stuck with Sansar through thick and thin, including all you die-hards who kept events going. You never stopped believing and I am here to reward that belief in Sansar by providing you the tools you’ve all been looking for.

I am transparent almost to a fault so feel free to reach out and ask me anything. Even though Sansar is about 8 years old from its initial conception, it is still a startup, and I am going to try and instill the “nothing is impossible” startup mentality. Admittedly, I am far from Phillip Rosedale or Ebbe Altberg, but I have built and sold software companies and guarantee you I will put my heart and soul into making Sansar a success. I am looking forward to meeting you on Discord and in the first “Community Meeting”. I am the Sansarian known as “Oriym” and if you see someone in the Nexus with a black cowboy hat on it is probably me. Please stop me and say hi if you see me wandering around!

Work will be underway very soon…

I think you’ll like what you see a year from now. Heck I think you’ll like what you see a couple of months from now. The Wookey guys are being very helpful in jumpstarting my involvement in Sansar and we are going to dive in soon and start bug fixing, etc.

Feel free to spread the good news about Sansar. Big changes will be happening in the weeks and months ahead. It’s time to keep track of Sansar developments once again.

I blog more on Sansar when new developments happen. Stay tuned for that.

Sansar Back Online After Downtime

Sansar has been making the rounds in the past week or so after Sansar went down last week. The reason for the downtime is unknown but it could be because of a recent AWS outage. The good news is that Sansar has come back online since then and the Sansar website. The Wookey management team are now actively looking to resolve the issues on the platform and they hope things will start running smoothly soon.

One of the issues has been trying to resolve the furlough of Sansar employees that has gone on since September 2021. There are probably more reasons behind the scenes that the public can not know about. I think there needs to be more updated and regular communications going on during platform outages etc.

Steve Moriya from the Wookey management team posted this on the Sansar Discord channel.

hi there. this is steve from the wookey management – sansar team. i thought i’d pop in to let you know we are actively looking to resolve the issues on the platform. we value our community big time, and hoping we can get things running smoothly soon. … we appreciate your patience and understanding… happy holidays from the wookey team!!!

More updates will be posted on my blog very soon. Hopefully the Wookey management team will resolve the issues as soon as possible.

Sansar appears to now be owned by Wookey

Wookey mention at the bottom of the official Sansar website

Latest Developments

• Updates will appear here soon

---

Today it appears in the Sansar Terms of Service and at the bottom of the official Sansar website it looks like Wookey may be taking over Sansar. 

There is now active discussion going on the SL Forums and via the Sansar Discord channel.

Linden Lab have not yet made any official announcements on this. Sansar no longer appears on the official Linden Lab website either.

Official Wookey website – a new world coming soon

Linden Lab moves to Plan B for Sansar

https://youtu.be/Av1D3UCsr0o

Ebbe Altberg confirmed on Friday 21st February on Lab Gab episode 14 that Linden Lab is no longer continuing to sponsor Sansar financially. The lab are now looking for a plan B for Sansar going forward.

No deal has been done yet.

Ebbe said the following below…

So as you might have heard, sadly we have decided that we, as Linden Lab, couldn’t continue to sponsor the project financially, so we’re looking for a plan B for Sansar to continue. I can’t say much, but we’re having very interesting conversations with several parties to help that project move forward, which I’m really excited about. But no deal is done yet, so people will just have to be patient and see what happens with it, but yes  it is true that Linden Lab going forward will focus entirely on Second Life and Tilia. I’m still busy making sure that Sansar finds a great home and that the great work that that team has started can continue.

Linden Lab will now focus entirely on Second Life and Tilia going forward which is good news indeed. They remain in a strong financial position at this time. More investments are coming now for Second Life.

Other Important Updates

• Linden Lab is still developing a companion app for Second Life. There is still no ETA. Testing could start soon like in the next few months for IOS first followed with a Androud version.
• No confirmed date for deployment for Name Changes but Name Changes will be around US $20 cheaper for Premium Plus members
• No ETA for launch date for Premium Plus
• 8 names confirmed for the first list of last names > Conundrum, Dismantled, Huntsman, Littlepaws, Nova, Ravenhurst, Wumpkins & Yeatley + Winners will be informed via e-mail
• The cloud uplift project due to be completed before the end of 2020
• Transfer costs for buy-down / grandfathered regions is to be reduced from US $600 to US $300
• There are roughly 5,000 new accounts logging-in to Second Life every day
• There are plans to introduce 2FA

Linden Lab updates about Second Life future & latest news on Sansar

On 13th February Linden Lab a blog post about an update to Second Life which is rather interesting to read through. Apparently Linden Lab have made some personnel and operational changes recently. A few employees have officially left the lab but the good news is that the team has strengthened more.

Linden Lab is continuing to invest heavily in Second Life going forward with many exciting developments happening pretty soon including new Linden Home themes, a new mobile companion app, the launch of last names which will be available in the next few weeks. There will be more new features, improved performance and usability updates soon.

The full blog post reads this…

There’ve been quite a few rumors about changes at the Lab and their possible effects on Second Life and Tilia. The truth is that we have made a few operational and personnel changes to ensure that we continue to stay strong for the next decade and beyond. This means that we had to say goodbye to a few employees, but at the same time we also strengthened our team by bringing back some heavy hitters who will help make Second Life better than ever.

So, Second Life is still here and still strong. We’re continuing to invest in its future and you’ll see the results of our commitment this year as we roll out a new mobile companion app, new Linden Home themes, performance and usability improvements, and a number of other new features and enhancements. The ability to change names will be available in the next few weeks, too.

These changes reflect our commitment to making SL strong for many years to come. To infinity and beyond!

Sansar Update – (13th Feb) 

Ebbe Altberg posted a update on the official Sansar Discord channel saying that there have been layoffs. Ebbe confirmed that Sansar is up and running. The future is unclear at the moment.

The lab are still in discussion about the next steps for Sansar. The problem is there will be many that will be speculating about these latest changes. Just have to wait and see now what will happen in the days and weeks ahead.

So, I’m only going to say this tonight as it’s late. We can pick up the conversation in the following days. Yes, there were layoffs today. A truly wonderful group of people. But as you can see Sansar is up and running. We are still in discussion about next steps. Including with the wonderful group of people. More to come. Don’t give up yet. Go create and have fun. Not much point in speculating until we can tell you more.

More updates soon.

Sansar Fees Update

Today the Sansar Team have posted a blog post named A Word About Fees which is worth reading if you are using Sansar nowadays. Last year there was a decision to change how processing credit works within Sansar. This was done to help scale and grow Sansar even futher than ever before. The good news is that Sansar will remain free for all to play and everyday operations will continue as normal. 

The Sansar Team mentions in the blog post that they will be now focusing the revenue model on the Sansar marketplace instead going forward. The legacy exchange rate will be extended for early adopters for another year. For creators before 1st January 2019 then they can get to keep the lower exchange rate until 31st December 2020. There will be a fees discussion meetup held soon. 

The full blog announcement… 

From our earliest days, we at Sansar have worked hard to build a virtual world that feels free and accessible to all – one where our amazing creators don’t have to worry about the constraints other platforms impose: a paid subscription just to cash out, for example, or fees for individual in-world transactions. We want to put you and your incredible work first, which is why we limit the kinds of fees we gather from our community. 

When we made the decision last year to change how we process credit, we understood it would be an adjustment. But we know that it is a necessary change to make in the long run: one that would help scale and grow our incredible virtual universe, and ensure our community remained strong, vibrant, and self-sufficient.

Through this change to our fee structure, we can continue to keep Sansar free for all to play, while still covering the costs of day-to-day operations: server maintenance, R&D, all that good stuff. We’re able to maximize the total content available to you without resorting to the fees  similar games enforce – in some cases, as much as an 80-20 revenue split.

We know that this may be unexpected for some, especially those that came to us through Second Life, where fees to process credit are lower. We also recognize that SL relies on a variety of fees to cover costs, including land ownership, upload fees, etc. By focusing our revenue model on our marketplace instead, we can limit the other fees we’d require in order to make Sansar a success.

We’re incredibly grateful for all the work you’ve contributed to Sansar so far, and we know the future is bright. In recognition of that, we’ll be extending the legacy exchange rate for early adopters for another year. If you became a creator before January 1, 2019, you’ll get to keep your lower exchange rate until December 31, 2020.

We’ll be speaking more to this change at our Fees Discussion meetup. Meet us there and let’s chat. 

Onwards,
The Sansar Team

Sansar Creator Beta officially opens to the public today

Sansar Breaking News

Sansar Atlas

Today Linden Lab issued a press release announcing Sansar opens to the public in Creator Beta. The next chapter has now started where everyone will now be able to create, discover and share their own social VR experiences on the brand new platform.

• Download Sansar – Get started with Sansar & check system specs here
• Sansar Atlas – Discover hundred’s of incredible experiences
• Sansar Store – View great products here
• Sansar Help – Knowledge Base FAQ

S$ market rate

Sansar Specs

Here is the full press release:

THE METAVERSE’S NEXT CHAPTER: SANSAR OPENS TO THE PUBLIC IN CREATOR BETA

2017-07-31 00:00:00 UTC

New Platform Simplifies Creating and Publishing Social VR Experiences,
Empowers Creators to Earn Money with a Robust Marketplace

SAN FRANCISCO – July 31, 2017 –Sansar™, the world’s leading social VR platform, today opened its creator beta to the public. Sansar empowers individuals, communities, schools, studios, corporations, brands and others to easily create, share, and ultimately sell immersive 3D social experiences for consumers to enjoy on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows PCs. Developed by Linden Lab®, the company behind the groundbreaking virtual world Second Life®, Sansar is a brand new platform built from the ground up to enable everyone to become a creator.

At opening, Sansar’s Atlas directory already features hundreds of engaging virtual experiences, including multiplayer games, recreations of historic sites and landmarks, art installations, movie theaters, museums, narrative experiences, jungle temples, 360º video domes, sci-fi themed hangouts, and much more. Creators invited to the platform during a limited-access preview have published thousands of amazing public and private experiences, and with the opening of beta today, the world is now invited to join them.

“Sansar democratizes social VR,” said Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab. “Until now, complexity and cost has limited who could create and publish in this medium, and Sansar dramatically changes that. It’s been inspiring to see the thousands of virtual creations that have already published with Sansar during our limited preview, and I’m looking forward to the explosion of creativity we’ll see now that we’ve opened the doors in beta.”

SANSAR CAPABILITIES

Simplified Creation & Cross-Device Distribution

Intuitive drag-and-drop editing makes it easy to create a scene with assets imported from common 3D modeling tools or purchased from the Sansar Store.

With the push of a button, creations become hosted multi-user experiences that can be enjoyed by consumers using VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) as well as in desktop mode on PCs. Every Sansar experience has a unique link that can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, email, blogs, and with whomever the creator wishes. Each instance of an experience is currently set to allow 35+ concurrent avatars, and automated instancing will enable creators to reach unlimited audiences.

Convincing Social Interactions

With detailed customizable avatars, Sansar provides rich social interactions, without requiring additional hardware like cameras and trackers. A unique integration with Speech Graphics’ technology provides accurate avatar lip-syncing and facial animations, driven in real time as users simply speak into the microphones on their HMDs or audio headsets. With the use of VR hand controllers, users’ hand and arm movements are accurately and realistically mirrored by their avatars, thanks to an integration of IKinema’s powerful RunTime middleware, the world’s leading full-body inverse kinematics (IK) technology.

Robust Marketplace & Earning Opportunities

With Sansar, creators can earn from their virtual creations by selling them in the Sansar Store. In the future, creators will also be able to sell, rent, or charge for access to their experiences. At the opening of beta, the Sansar Store features thousands of items for sale from creators around the world. 

A relationship with TurboSquid provides creators with access to hundreds of additional high-quality 3D models in the Store today, with thousands more being added in the coming months. Planned integration with TurboSquid’s StemCell initiative will make it easy for TurboSquid’s community of 3D modelers to immediately upload and sell their creations in the Sansar Store, further augmenting the assets readily available to Sansar creators.

Pricing

Sansar is free to use, with additional capacity and customer support available to creators through paid subscriptions, starting at $9.99/month.

About Linden Lab

Founded in 1999, Linden Lab developed Second Life, the largest-ever virtual world filled entirely by the creations of its users. In 2013, the company expanded its product portfolio with Blocksworld, a lighthearted build-and-play system for kids and grownups alike.

Linden Lab is currently developing Sansar, a new platform that empowers people to create, share, and ultimately sell their own social experiences that are accessible with VR headsets and via PCs. Sansar is free to use and available now in creator beta at Sansar.com.

For more about Linden Lab, its products, and career opportunities please visit LindenLab.com.

What are your first impressions of Sansar Creator Beta ? 

New Video: Sansar Creator Preview – Anrick creates the monkey temple

Check out this new video uploaded today showing Anrick a London based VR director sharing his experiences creating the monkey temple with Sansar Creator Preview.

This latest video looks really impressive showing another glance into Sansar. The upcoming Sansar Creator Beta will be open to the public very soon. The wait is almost over! 🙂

More info at sansar.com

Latest New Sansar Videos – July 2017 Update

During the past week three new videos of Sansar Creator Preview have been uploaded on the official Sansar YouTube channel. Sansar Creator Preview will open to the public sometime before the end of the summer.

If you have missed any of the latest Sansar videos then you can watch them all below. The latest three videos are all pretty impressive showing a glance into Sansar. Hopefully the lab will launch Sansar Creator Preview within the next month or so.

19th July 2017

Blueberry shares her experiences creating “Blueberry Town” and other works in Sansar.

12th July

3D content and environmental artist Maxwell Graf shares his thoughts creating “Neptune’s Revenge” and other roleplaying experiences in Sansar.

6th July

Ria shares her thoughts on this new platform and offers a sneak peek at “Little Giant,” one of the first experiences created with Sansar during the creator preview.

What do you think of these new Sansar Creator Preview videos ?

New Sansar Creator Preview Video

This week a new promotional video of Sansar Creator Preview was uploaded on the official Sansar YouTube channel showing another sneak preview of Sansar.

The video runs for 1 minute and 38 seconds which is definitely worth watching if you interested in Sansar. “Ria shares her thoughts on this new platform and offers a sneak peek at “Little Giant,” one of the first experiences created with Sansar during the creator preview”.

Linden Lab have sent out even more invites to Second Life users in recent days according to various sources. Once you receive the Welcome to Sansar Creator Preview email, accept the invitation and then you are ready to get started with Sansar.