Hamster Kombat founders tout 'high' trading volumes, expansion plans and game's next season as token declines

Much was made of Hamster Kombat's first token drop and its aftermath, when many players appeared disillusioned by the number and value of the tokens they had earned playing the Telegram-based clicker game.

Hamster Kombat's team plugged the airdrop as the biggest in the history of crypto, as the game said it sent tokens to 131 million users. That was after the same team had said over 300 million users signed up to play Hamster Kombat. According to the game, cheaters trying to game the system unfairly were banned.

Despite the Hamster Kombat HMSTR token losing much of its value since last month's airdrop , the game's founders appear undeterred. "The price is driven by supply and demand, and currently, many people are choosing to sell their tokens," the game's anonymous founders recently told The Block. "Now, we are focused on creating new products within the Hamster ecosystem that will attract newcomers."

On Thursday, Hamster Kombat teased "Season 2" of the game with new details on future gameplay. In the second season, players will be tasked with running their own "gaming platforms," whereas in the first season, users assumed the role of CEOs of virtual cryptocurrency exchanges. The team has previously stated that 15% of remaining HMSTR tokens have been earmarked for the second season, which is slated to begin by the end of this month, Hamster Kombat's founders said.

"In Season 2, which is launching very soon, we’ll continue integrating the Hamster Kombat metagame with third-party games, bridging both web2 and web3," the game's founders said.

Expanding beyond Telegram

Hamster Kombat's founders also told The Block that they hope to attract additional players from new regions "where Telegram is not prevalent." The game is primarily accessible through Telegram's messaging app and utilizes The Open Network, or TON, blockchain.

"Moreover, we are actively collaborating with web2, web3, and desktop game developers," the game's founders said. "These partnerships will not only provide our games with access to a wider audience but may also allow for the sharing of specific assets across titles, creating a more integrated and immersive gaming experience."

Hamster Kombat's team, which has promoted that they have not taken on any investors, also said they "have multiple revenue channels, including an advertising business within YouTube and Telegram" and plan "to use the revenue for further development."

If the game is successful in adding new users it may help to replace any player turnover incurred after the first airdrop. In the days following the token distribution, many people took to X to lament their experience and complain about both how many tokens they had earned and how much those tokens ended up being worth.

HMSTR's decline

While it's not surprising to see the price and market cap of a token decline significantly after an initial airdrop, as many liquidate the crypto they have earned, HMSTR's drop-off has been much greater than that of Notcoin's NOT -6.03% token. HMSTR's market cap has slid from $660 million to about $255 million in less than a month, according to CoinGecko . In comparison, NOT's market cap is about $840 million after peaking at around $2.4 billion, according to The Block’s  Notcoin Price Page and CoinGecko.

Notcoin's tap-to-earn game, also released on Telegram, has largely been considered the pioneer of creating crypto games accessible through the messaging app. The game's airdrop began in May.