Yat Siu, the co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, told CoinTelegraph that Telegram games and mini-apps will facilitate large-scale Web3 adoption. The one game he cited as an example was Hamster Kombat, which has surpassed 300 million users in mere months.
According to Siu, Telegram offers a distribution model that Web3 hasn’t had before. There are no “restrictions” on Web3 games, unlike on other platforms like the Apple app store and Google Play, which hinder crypto games for legal reasons. In July, Siu said that Telegram will onboard the next 100 million people to Web3.
Telegram is home to 700 million users worldwide, of which 500 million play the in-app games. Hamster Kombat, a clicker game, has gone viral for its easy mechanics and the promise of the “largest crypto airdrop” in history. Clicker games have become popular this year, especially if they offer some type of real-life monetary reward.
In November 2023, Animoca Brands made an investment into The Open Network (TON), a layer-1 blockchain deeply integrated into Telegram. After doing so, Animoca Brands became TON’s largest validator. Last month, TON made an investment into Gamee, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands.
Hamster Kombat Challenges Records with Addictive Gameplay
A game where players take on the role of a CEO in a fictional crypto exchange, Hamster Kombat has amassed users so fast that it’s difficult to keep track — and they just keep coming. At the end of June, the user count was 150 million, making the mini-app the third-fastest game to reach that level of adoption. Now, it’s at 300 million, and the number keeps growing.
In Hamster Kombat, users can earn fictional currency from many actions, including clicking on the screen, inviting friends, and completing tasks. The more in-game currency a user earns, the higher the payout will be when the cryptocurrency drops; at least that’s the idea. The team has said the airdrop for the game will be the largest in crypto history, meaning that it would surpass Uniswap’s $6.43 billion airdrop.
However, some critics are not sold on Hamster Kombat’s user count. These critics believe that the simple gameplay mechanics and lack of deterrents open the door for botting, which means that the number of actual users may be much smaller than the ones the team states on its official accounts. You can even find Hamster Kombat bots for sale with a quick search engine query.
Still, many view Hamster Kombat’s success as a good thing for Web3. Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, said that many users who enter Web3 through the game will learn about the impact of the next iteration of the internet, benefiting the broader ecosystem. And that would be a great thing for Web3 overall.
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