Within the tech world, hitting 150 million customers is an unique milestone. Solely essentially the most profitable platforms obtain the feat, making the rise of Hamster Kombat one of the crucial intriguing tales in 2024.
It took Pokémon GO, a 2016 augmented actuality cellular sport, 33 days to get to 150 million customers. It held the document till the summer season of 2023, when Threads, Instagram’s rival to X, hit the mark in simply six days.
Threads has set the bar extremely excessive, however the not too long ago launched Telegram-based sport Hamster Kombat claims to be the third-fastest app in historical past to onboard and surpass 150 million customers.
Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox metaverse, tells Cointelegraph that the eye-popping development of Telegram-based video games is a testomony to the velocity of innovation and that video games like Hamster Kombat are reinventing the strategy to play-to-earn video games:
“That is thrilling and highly effective. It reveals how issues transfer on this business with the community impact of Web3. In weeks or months, they develop to unbelievable scales.”
The group behind the informal sport describes its quirky title as a “crypto change CEO simulator” and never a “clicker” or “tapper” sport. The sport’s participant base has grown exponentially over three months utilizing numerous gaming and social mechanics.
The sport’s aim, whether or not by diligent tapping or strategic administration, is to earn as many digital cash or factors as potential. Customers hope that their loyalty will probably be rewarded with future airdrops, much like the rewards dished out by Notcoin, Hamster Kombat’s religious predecessor.
Cointelegraph performed the sport extensively to discover its curious and fascinating strategy to the idle sport style. These video games are booming in recognition on Telegram as a result of they leverage the app’s large social graph to onboard tens of millions of customers in an extremely quick timeframe.
Associated: Notcoin’s explosive development drives crypto adoption on Telegram
YouTube Guinness World Report?
Hamster Kombat’s in-game mechanics are intrinsically linked to its YouTube content material and social media platforms. In consequence, its YouTube web page alone is outpacing the subscription numbers of Mr Beast, the platform’s most subscribed-to channel globally.
Cointelegraph understands that the group has utilized for a Guinness World Report as the primary YouTube channel to achieve over 10 million subscribers in a single week (six days, 13 hours, and quarter-hour), amongst different subscriber-related milestones.
A YouTube skilled instructed Cointelegraph that Hamster Kombat is presently incomes $11 per 1,000 views in promoting income from its YouTube channel.
Since its inception on Could 24 to June 26, the channel has amassed 473,709,858 views and earned $5.2 million. Advert income has elevated each day, from as little as $100 in its first few days to important spikes over the previous month.
Information from Social Blade means that the channel has racked up a median of 21 million views per day over the previous two weeks. This equates to $230,000 each day advert income payouts over the previous 14 days.
What’s Hamster Kombat? It’s not only a clicker sport…
In Hamster Kombat, gamers begin out as bald hamsters who’ve simply signed a contract because the CEO of a cryptocurrency change. The bottom mechanic of the sport is that of a clicker, the place the participant faucets on their hamster avatar to earn cash.
The idea has existed for years however has seen a resurgence in recognition pushed by related viral Telegram mini app Notcoin, performed by over 35 million gamers. Launched in Jan. 2024, Notcoin ultimately carried out a token airdrop, and the NOT token now has a market capitalization of $1.5 billion.
Nevertheless, Hamster Kombat’s strategy is just not solely centered on the press mechanic. Whereas it’s the main method new gamers earn cash, customers should spend their amassed factors to buy improve playing cards for his or her change, similar to licenses in new jurisdictions or itemizing new buying and selling pairs. As a hamster change CEO, your avatar ranges up as you climb the company crypto ladder.
Romani Aliev, technique director at BDC Consulting and a Hamster Kombat participant, says it’s extra strategic and useful for gamers to make use of amassed factors to buy upgrades for his or her change.
“It’s much more subtle and enjoyable to consider how you’ll enhance the revenue course of than simply tapping,” Aliev explains.
Change upgrades permit gamers to earn factors passively whereas in-game and never actively enjoying. The tapping mechanic can also be capped by an upgradable vitality meter that refills, that means you’ll be able to’t simply faucet all day or set up bots that do the give you the results you want.
The varied upgrades have tiers, which price an growing quantity of cash. All these upgrades enhance the participant’s revenue per hour, which Hamster Kombat not too long ago introduced as the important thing metric gamers ought to give attention to forward of a looming airdrop.
Provided that the upgrades price an growing quantity of in-game cash, customers are incentivized to do what they will to build up cash as shortly as potential. That is the place Hamster Kombat introduces missions that customers should clear to earn bonus factors.
Customers can full some primary duties proper from the beginning, similar to following Hamster Kombat’s X account, becoming a member of the sport’s Telegram group, and watching movies on their official YouTube channel. Watching these movies awards 100,000 cash every, which helps to shortly improve ranges and improve hourly revenue.
The sport additionally rewards gamers for inviting their associates to play. Finishing these duties advantages customers’ factors tally whereas boosting the sport’s social media presence and engagement metrics.
Hamster Kombat has over 46.8 million subscribers on Telegram and 30.2 million on YouTube as of June 28.
Influencers and web sites share each day cipher and combo playing cards
Hamster Kombat’s strategy to permitting customers to earn extra in-game cash to improve their change has attention-grabbing implications for the cryptocurrency sector and its personal group.
Gamers can earn in-game cash for watching sure movies on Hamster Kombat’s YouTube channel. The channel options animated content material categorized in a Study and Information part, relating necessary matters particularly for Web3 newcomers.
Borget tells Cointelegraph that this strategy may show critically necessary in onboarding new customers and educating them on the fundamentals of Web3, cryptocurrency buying and selling and blockchain expertise
“It is nice to seize new customers within the house. A few of them will begin studying the affect of Web3 or monetary literacy. By means of possession, they will join our pockets to different video games, benefiting the broader ecosystem,” Borget mentioned.
Different different options inside Hamster Kombat permit customers to earn extra in-game factors and are already turning into a viable means for group members to co-create content material. It’s each day combo playing cards and cipher are two distinctive in-game options that reward tens of millions of factors.
For each day ciphers, gamers should efficiently enter a secret code by tapping Morse code on their screens to earn on million factors. In the meantime, gamers can obtain as much as 5 million factors by buying a mix of three upgrades within the each day combo problem. These codes and mixtures are refreshed each day.
Person-generated tutorials on social platforms like YouTube and TikTok that unveil these each day combos have been among the hottest Hamster Kombat content material in latest weeks. A number of web sites are additionally creating each day information articles sharing each day codes and ciphers.
The sort of content material may change into a viable means for content material creators and web sites to earn cash whereas fostering the group and offering a passive revenue stream.
Hamster Kombat airdrop
The success of Notcoin is being touted as a giant purpose for Hamster Kombat’s unprecedented development in participant numbers. Its builders introduced that the Hamster Kombat token will probably be launched on the TON blockchain, whereas a date for the airdrop is but to be confirmed.
It’s speculated that gamers hope to be rewarded in a equally profitable token airdrop to that of Notcoin. Hamster Kombat gamers can now join Telegram’s built-in TON pockets, with the in-game menu indicating that the token itemizing is underway. Gamers must full particular duties to take part within the upcoming airdrop.
I have been tinkering with @hamster_kombat for a characteristic on @Cointelegraph with @hyoseopyun – gamers are going to loopy lengths to stage up their CEO and exchanges pic.twitter.com/Wa7Xs8z249
— Gareth Jenkinson (@gazza_jenks) June 16, 2024
Viral movies displaying individuals from all walks of life enjoying Hamster Kombat counsel that many hope their Hamster CEO would possibly pay them again in actual life for the time spent clicking and upgrading their change.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Manufacturers, says that whereas there may be potential to generate income, these video games do not at all times result in “life-changing” financial windfalls. He additionally mentioned that it’s not the first goal of the style.
“I performed Notcoin, my household performed Notcoin. We had some enjoyable with it I believe I made about $10 within the airdrop. Okay, possibly I didn’t put hours into it, however that’s not what it’s for us, proper? It’s for enjoyable and leisure,” Siu tells Cointelegraph.
He additionally concedes that whereas there’s a speculative attract to the sport, customers don’t must pay to play.
“That is enjoyable and leisure, it’s a really completely different class. I take a look at this as not purely speculative however as advertising and promoting. If you wish to promote a model, whether or not it’s gaming, Hamster Kombat or Notcoin, the truth that you might be prepared to supply rewards, whose worth may not be decided, is one other aspect that makes it enjoyable,” Siu explains.
Bots are a actuality, however tens of millions are enjoying
Screenshots shared on Hamster Kombat’s X account on June 24 present that the sport has about 185 million each day customers. Nevertheless, this doesn’t account for potential bot actions and duplicate accounts.
There are a plethora of on-line tutorials and sources that assist customers leverage auto-clicking bots to achieve inhuman benefits. One downloadable auto-clicking bot claims to help as much as 1,000 completely different accounts.
Promoting Hamster Kombat accounts may additionally change into a worthwhile facet hustle. Some accounts on the gaming market FunPay are listed at over $1,000. Hamster Kombat’s vitality meter is only one method the sport clamps down on these making an attempt to sport the system with automated clicking bots.
Associated: No, Hamster Kombat is just not unlawful in Uzbekistan
Inal Kardan, head of gaming at TON Basis, says it’s “unimaginable” to find out the present variety of bots on Hamster Kombat. The sport isn’t onchain (although its roadmap contains ongoing onchain infrastructure improvement), making analyzing customers’ actions much more difficult.
However a precedent set by Notcoin offers a ballpark determine. Kardan says estimates based mostly on on-chain exercise point out that a minimum of 50% of Notcoin’s reported 35 million gamers are actual customers, including that many customers opted to withdraw through centralized exchanges, which may skew the estimates even larger.
“To draw over 17 million verified, lively customers by natural development and participant engagement is a historic achievement,” Kardan tells Cointelegraph.
TON goals for GameFi throne
After launching in January this 12 months, Notcoin paved the best way for Telegram mini apps. For the reason that clicker sport got here into the highlight, TON’s lively each day person depend exploded from 16,000 to over 600,000 on June 6, based on Token Terminal information.
The success of Hamster Kombat can entice tens of millions extra to the TON blockchain, which Kardan says will make the blockchain the “default” community for video games:
“Particularly for hyper-casual video games — in order for you tens of millions of lively and engaged customers, TON is the perfect chain to attain it.”
The sport’s success has helped TON’s native tasks attain tens of millions of latest customers worldwide, and Telegram mini apps have gotten a viable advertising possibility for them.
Extra reporting by Yohan Yun.
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