Will Telegram Clicker Games Like Hamster Kombat Crash Post-Airdrop Despite Teasing ‘Largest Airdrop’ in Crypto History?

Hamster Komabt's Rapid Development: Heading for a Holistic Approach?

Hamster Kombat has emerged as a prominent figure in the realm of crypto mobile gaming, boasting a hamster community that now exceeds 300 million members.

Shortly after unveiling its updated whitepaper, the team has begun to fulfill its promises.

On 6 August, they introduced three additional mini-games within their tap-to-earn game, skillfully merging Web2 and Web3 gaming experiences.

This swift development underscores Hamster Kombat's dedication to building a sustainable ecosystem with a robust token demand, collaborating with industry leaders.

Beyond its popular tap-to-earn game, the organisation behind Hamster Kombat aspires to establish a broader gaming ecosystem.

As per their announcement:

“We aim to become a gaming publishing ecosystem that will expose the best game studios of different sizes to our audience—from marketing opportunities to token usage and collaboration options.”

The Hamster Foundation aims to cater to all gaming platforms, including PC and console, with the intention of bringing the next billion players into the crypto sphere.

They noted:

"We are an edutainment project created with the goal of mass adoption. And our mission is to reach 1 billion people worldwide who will be a part of this whole project and will be learning about the blockchain and web3 worlds. We also care about financial literacy and universal basic income, and it looks like we’re becoming one of the biggest projects in this area."

The foundation is also exploring the creation of multiple new revenue streams to generate income that will preclude the need to sell the upcoming token.

To enhance its gaming ecosystem, the Hamster Foundation may initiate ecosystem grant programs for third-party developers in the future.

These programmes will be denominated in fiat currency rather than HMSTR, ensuring that the token does not encounter additional selling pressure.

For the time being, the Hamster Kombat team is persisting in the development of the game, incorporating new features such as skins for hamsters, keys to collect through puzzle-solving and mini-game play, and new cards that boost hourly earnings.

Delayed Token Launch

Hamster Kombat had intended to introduce its token on The Open Network (TON) in July, but as the month drew to a close, the team acknowledged that they were still devising a strategy to execute the extensive airdrop.

Upon inquiry, a game representative clarified:

“The team is actively working on making the airdrop happen, and they will share the exact date as soon as they can.”

The team has encountered technical hurdles due to the airdrop's massive scale, which will encompass over 250 million users, making it one of the largest airdrops in the history of cryptocurrency.

This Telegram-based game maintains player engagement by regularly introducing new features.

Despite the delay, $HMSTR can be traded in the pre-market on various exchanges, including Gate.io, OKX, Bybit, KuCoin, and Bitget.

However, the specific launch date and the conversion rate from in-game coins to on-chain tokens remain undecided, which could make pre-market trading particularly risky.

Largest Airdrop in Crypto History?

The upcoming airdrop of Hamster Kombat's HMSTR token is poised to be the most extensive in the Web3 sector.

According to the announcement:

“HMSTR airdrop will be the largest airdrop in the history of crypto. 60% of the airdrop's volume will be dedicated to the players. The rest is reserved for providing market liquidity, ecosystem partnerships and grants, rewarding squads, and other items.”

No further details have been provided regarding the HMSTR token's forthcoming tokenomics.

The Hamster Kombat team has disclosed that there are no venture capital or early investments in the token, indicating that the token's value will be solely determined by organic demand.

The announcement emphasised:

“Since we have neither investment firms nor VCs backing us, there is no extra sell pressure, and the community-driven token and its value will be determined by demand, supply, and community interest.”

Organising the largest airdrop in crypto history presents a significant challenge, as it would need to exceed Uniswap's UNI airdrop, which was valued at over $6.43 billion—recognised as the largest crypto airdrop in terms of total value distributed, according to CoinGecko.

Second Airdrop Already in Plan: Over-Ambitious Much?

When questioned about the game's prospects following the initial airdrop scheduled for July, Hamster Kombat's founders expressed confidence.

They revealed that plans for a second airdrop are already underway.

The team noted:

"The game will go on, and there will be a second season with the second airdrop in the next two years. We think that the token, which will belong to millions of users throughout the world, holds a huge value in itself."

Listing on Binance

In a notable development, Binance has signalled its support for $HMSTR by adding it to its platform.

Following its recent listing on CoinMarketCap, the presence of HAMSTER on Binance represents a pivotal shift.

This decision simplifies access and trading of the token for users once it is officially launched.

Binance's move underscores its dedication to providing a diverse selection of tokens to its user base, further solidifying its status as a leading exchange.

This strategic addition is also expected to yield positive outcomes for Binance, as it is likely to attract a substantial influx of new users once the TGE occurs and the token becomes available for trading.

The visibility of Hamster Kombat on Binance has sparked speculation about an imminent official listing, heightening anticipation among traders and investors.

The excitement surrounding Hamster Kombat on Binance not only highlights the platform's significant influence but also points to the promising trajectory of the $HMSTR token within the cryptocurrency market.

Will Telegram Clicker Games Like Hamster Kombat Fade Post-Airdrop or is That Mere Speculation?

Inal Kardan, the Gaming Lead at the TON Foundation, noted that as of last December, only about 1% of Telegram's monthly active users were engaging with games on the platform.

Kardan elaborated:

"And I was saying it should be at least 10% to 12% as on other socials, or even 30%, as on WeChat. Now around 20% of users of Telegram play at least one game per month. So it grew 20 times."

Telegram, which has reported having 950 million users globally, has become a host to various mini-games that leverage the TON blockchain, a technology with a long-standing connection to the messaging app's developers.

While games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have shown success in attracting newcomers to the world of cryptocurrency through free-to-play models that offer financial incentives, the question remains whether this popularity can be translated into long-term, viable businesses or stimulate broader growth in the blockchain sector.

According to Kardan, the current focus of these games is on community building and fostering engagement.

He added:

"All these games, their monetization model is not about in-app purchases, it’s all about traffic. They are all monetizing traffic in different ways. You cannot monetize traffic the same way as they do it right now after the TGE (token generation event). So after their TGE, their model has to change."

In addition to Hamster Kombat, other games such as Catizen and Yescoin are expected to initiate token airdrops in the near future.

Kardan is optimistic about Hamster Kombat's potential to navigate the TGE and establish a sustainable gaming ecosystem, given its substantial user base and the possibility of converting these users into players of a new, monetisable game.

He continued:

"They already have a huge audience. They can try to convert those users into players of a new game and if that new game is a mid-core game where people are more likely going to spend money on in-app purchases. They will have a really good revenue stream."

However, Andrew Saunders, the Chief Growth Officer at SKALE Labs, has a different perspective on the longevity of certain games.

Saunders suggests that clicker games like Catizen and Tapswap may lose their allure once the current batch of tokens is released, as these games might struggle to maintain hype.

He predicts:

“I predict a fairly sizable user drop-off post-Token Generation Event for most of these games.”

There are some naysayers as well.

Saunders points out that many users are drawn to crypto idle clicker games due to "airdrop speculation," hoping for a significant payout, but may quickly lose interest when they discover their reward might be minimal.

Saunders argues that many of these players are not likely to stick around once the reality sets in:

“As Token Generation Event supply is limited and often tied to the initial user base, many will not meet expectations in my opinion.”

He claims that:

“We will not only see significant negative sentiment and backlash towards them, but also a decreased likelihood of these users driving trials for new games as well as referring and onboarding new users.”