Is Hamster Kombat going to make a Guinness World Record?

Hitting 150 million users is a special milestone in the tech world. Only the most successful platforms will achieve this feat, making Hamster Kombat one of the most exciting stories in 2024.

Pokémon GO, the 2016 augmented reality mobile game, took 33 days to reach 150 million users. Instagram held the record until the summer of 2023, when X's rival, Threads, hit the mark in six days.

Threads has set the bar incredibly high, but it recently claimed that the Telegram-based game Hamster Kombat is the third-fastest app in history and has surpassed more than 150 million users.

Sebastien Borget, co-founder of Sandbox Metaverse, told Cointelegraph that Telegram-based games are a testament to the speed of innovation, and that games like Hamster Kombat are reinventing the game-discovery method:

“It's exciting and powerful. It shows how things move in this industry with Web3's network effects. Within weeks or months, they grow to incredible scale.”

The team behind the game describes the quirky title as a “crypto exchange CEO simulator” and not a “clicker” or “tapper” game. The game's player base has grown exponentially over three months using various gameplay and social mechanics.

Related: Hamster Combat Creators: Marketing Masters or Modern Satirists?

Whether through diligent tapping or strategic management, the goal of the game is to earn as many virtual coins or points as possible. Users hope that their loyalty will be rewarded with airdrops in the future, similar to the rewards given by NotCoin, the spiritual predecessor of Hamster Kombat.

Cointelegraph played the game extensively to explore its curious and engaging approach to the idle game genre. These games are growing in popularity on Telegram because the app's massive social graph can get millions of users on board in a surprisingly short period of time.

Related: Notcoin's Explosive Growth Drives Crypto Adoption on Telegram

YouTube Guinness World Record?

Hamster Kombat's in-game mechanics are linked to its YouTube content and social media platforms. As a result, his YouTube page alone surpasses the subscription numbers of Mr Beast, the most subscribed channel globally.

Cointelegraph has learned that the group has applied for a Guinness World Record as the first YouTube channel to achieve more than 10 million subscribers in one week (six days, 13 hours and 15 minutes) and the most number of subscribers in the event.

A YouTube expert told Cointelegraph that Hamster Kombat is currently earning $11 per 1,000 views in ad revenue from his YouTube channel.

From May 24th to June 26th, the channel garnered 473,709,858 viewers and earned $5.2 million. Ad revenue increased daily, from lows of $100 in the first few days to significant increases last month.

According to data from Social Blade, the channel has averaged 21 million views per day over the past two weeks. This equates to $230,000 in daily earnings over the past 14 days.

What is Hamster Kombat? It's not just a clicker game…

In Hamster Kombat, players start out as a bald guy who has signed a contract as the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange. The basic mechanic of the game is clicker where the player taps their hamster avatar to earn coins.

The concept has been around for years, but has seen a resurgence in popularity driven by the equally viral Telegram mini app, NotCoin, which has been played by over 35 million players. Launched in January 2024, NotCoin has finally performed its token airdrop, and the NOT token now has a capitalization of $1.5 billion.

However, Hamster Kombat's approach isn't just focused on the clicker mechanic. While this is the main way for new players to earn coins, users must exchange their points to purchase upgrade cards, such as licensing in new regions or listing new trading pairs. As the CEO of Hamster Exchange, your profile will rise as you climb the corporate crypto ladder.

Exchange improvements allow players to earn points while in-game and not actively playing. The tapping mechanic is also covered by an upgradeable energy meter, meaning you won't be able to tap all day or load bots that do the work for you.

There are different levels of upgrades, which cost more and more coins. All of these improvements improve player profit per hour, a key metric players should focus on ahead of the looming airdrop, as Hamster Combat recently announced.

Users are encouraged to do their best to collect coins as quickly as possible as the upgrades will cost an increasing amount of in-game coins. Hamster Kombat is a place where users have to clear missions to get bonus points.

Users can complete some basic tasks right from the start, like following Hamster Kombat's X account, joining the game's Telegram group, and watching videos on their official YouTube channel. Watching these videos will reward you with 100,000 coins each, which will help you improve your rankings faster and increase your hourly profit.

The game rewards players for inviting their friends to play. Completing these tasks will benefit users' scores by boosting the game'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 websites share daily secret and combo cards.

Hamster Kombat's move to allow users to earn additional in-game coins to improve their exchange has interesting implications for the cryptocurrency sector and the community itself.

Players can earn in-game coins for watching certain videos on the Hamster Combat YouTube channel. The channel offers animated content divided into Learn and News sections, touching on important topics especially for Web3 newcomers.

Borget told Cointelegraph that this approach could be useful for onboarding new users and educating them on the basics of Web3, cryptocurrency trading, and blockchain technology.

“It's great to have new users in the space. Some begin to learn the impact of Web3 or financial literacy. By owning it, you will benefit the wider ecosystem by connecting our wallet to other games,” said Borget.

Other optional features in Hamster Kombat allow users to earn additional in-game points, and community members are now becoming a viable means of creating content. Daily Combo Cards and Cipher are two unique in-game features that reward millions of points.

For Daily Secrets, players must successfully enter a secret code by tapping Morse code on their screen to earn million points. Meanwhile, players can earn up to five million points by purchasing three upgrades during a daily match. These codes and combinations are updated daily.

User-generated tutorials on social platforms like YouTube and TikTok that publicize these daily combos have been some of the most popular Hamster Kombat content in recent weeks. Several websites are creating daily newsletters that share daily codes and secrets.

This type of content can be a viable way for content creators and websites to make money while growing their community and providing a passive income stream.

Hamster Kombat air drop

Notcoin's success is being touted as a major factor behind Hamster Kombat's unprecedented player growth. The developers announced that the Hamster Kombat token will be launched on the TON blockchain, the date of the airdrop has not yet been confirmed.

It is assumed that the players will be rewarded in the same lucrative climate as NoteCoin. Hamster Kombat players can now connect to Telegram's integrated tote bag, with the in-game menu displaying the token list in progress. Players must complete certain tasks to participate in the upcoming airdrop.

I've been hanging out with @hamster_kombat for a feature on @Cointelegraph with @hyoseopyun – players are going crazy to upgrade and swap their CEO pic.twitter.com/Wa7Xs8z249

— Gareth Jenkinson (@gazza_jenks) June 16, 2024

Many hope that viral videos of Hamsters playing Hamster Kombat can pay off their hamster CEOs in real life for the time they spend improving their clicks and conversions.

Despite the potential to make money, these games don't always lead to a “life-changing” economic windfall, says Yat Siu, founder of Animoka Brands. He also said that it was not the primary purpose of the genre.

“I played Notcoin, my family played Notcoin. I think I made about $10 at the airport. Okay, maybe I didn't put in the hours, but that's not for us, is it? It's for fun and entertainment,” Siu tells Cointelegraph.

He also admitted that despite speculative demand for the game, users should not have to pay to play.

“It's fun and entertainment, it's a very different category. I see this as marketing and advertising, not just speculation. Whether you want to promote a brand, a game, Hamster Kombat or Notcoin, being willing to offer rewards, the value of which may not be known, is another element of fun,” explains Siu.

Bots are real, but millions are playing.

Scripts shared on the Hamster Combat X account on June 24 show that the game has around 185 million daily users. However, this does not include potential bot activity and duplicate accounts.

There are many online tutorials and resources that help users use auto-click bots to gain inhumane benefits. A downloadable auto-click bot claims to support up to 1,000 different accounts.

Selling Hamster Combat accounts can be a profitable side hustle. Some accounts on the gaming marketplace FunPay are listed for over $1,000. Hamster Combat's energy meter is one way the game handles those trying to game the system with auto-clicking bots.

Related: No, Hamster Kombat is not illegal in Uzbekistan.

Enal Cardan, head of games at the Ton Foundation, said it was “impossible” to determine the number of bots on Hamster Combat. The game is not onchain (although the roadmap includes continued onchain infrastructure development), making user activity more challenging.

But the premise set by Notcoin presents a ballpark figure. Estimates based on chain activity indicate that at least 50% of Notcoin's reported 35 million players are real users, with many users opting to withdraw through centralized exchanges, which could further skew the estimate.

“It's a historic achievement to attract more than 17 million verified, active users through organic growth and player engagement,” Kardan tells Cointelegraph.

Ton aims for GameFi throne.

Since its launch in January this year, NotCoin has paved the way for Telegram mini-apps. Since the click player came to prominence, Ton's daily active user count exploded from 16,000 to more than 600,000 on June 6, according to Token Terminal data.

Hamster Kombat's success could attract millions of people to Ton Blockchain, which Cardan says will make blockchain the “default” network for games.

“Especially for high casual games – if you want millions of active and dedicated users, Ton is the best chain to get it.”

The game's success has helped tons of native projects reach millions of new users worldwide, and Telegram mini apps are becoming a viable marketing option for them.

Additional reporting by Yohan Yun.

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