The recent launch of the popular Telegram-based clicker game Hamster Kombat(HMSTR)was quickly followed by a massive sell-off, with the native token dipping by 42% in the space of three days.
As a result of this latest development, scores of social media users have begun to call out the developers behind the clicker game for allegedly scamming them or for what appears to be an “unfair distribution” of its native token.
The majority of critics are investors who poured several months into the clicker game activities with a great expectation of financial return at launch. As of this writing, data from TradingView reveal that the token is projected to slide further from its Sunday’s all-time low of $0.005613.
The volume of decline witnessed within a little over 48 hours of the launch points out that it was not the product of FOMO but rather a symptom of the massive decline in investors' confidence in the project. The token distribution is anything but fair to millions of users who participated in the month-long tapping frenzy.
If anything, the Hamster distribution has caused disaffection among millions of its players around the world, raising a valid question not only about its future but also concerning the sustainability of Tap-To-Earn clicker games on Telegram. Nonetheless, it also reveals they mostly thrive on hype cylces and have little or no intrinsic value to offer.
An answer to the question of the long-term sustainability of Tap-To-Earn clicker games requires a comparative data analysis of this model. With millions of investors tapped into what appears to be a highly rewarding crypto investment, the growing presence of this model can not be ignored.
However, Notcoin, TON's first clicker game with over $700 million market capitalization, remains the only case study for how to launch a Tap-To-Earn game on Telegram leveraging the first mover-advantage principle. Meanwhile, several others that have followed suit have either failed completely or are struggling to achieve success.
For instance, TapSwap,a viral clicker game with millions of players on Telegram, has repeatedly postponed its launch dates to the utter disappointment of its investors, casting a shadow of doubt over the credibility of the developers and the future of the game itself.
The Hamster launch adds to the catalog of challenges that have greeted the emergence of clicker games on Telegram: unfair distribution of tokens.
It is bad enough that Telegram-powered clicker games are often criticized for the lack of utility, the unfairness in the distribution mechanism, as happened in the case of Hamster Kombat, is a blow to the reputation of Tap-To-Earn games.
Without an iota of doubt, it's almost tempting to deduce unfair distribution in the criticism leveled against Hamster Kombat, with a total supply of 100 billion hamsters, by merely looking at the distribution data and the payouts that millions of investors received for investing several months of amassing millions of hamster into it.
Furthermore,the screengrab below by a Nigerian crypto influencer provides a clue as to the amount of anger and distrust Hamster Kombat's recent launch has generated on social media in the last couple of days.
On X , another user @Mohsin_71 commented as follows:
“#HamsterKombat Token Distribution: Unfair Distribution. People wasted 2-3 months to mine #Hamster_Kombat tokens. What did they get? ….. Few pennies? Retweet 🔃 Season 2 = Advance Failure due to bad distribution. People are not happy. You can destroy your whole empire.” @hamster_kombat”
The Hamster Kombat's launch has further exposed the Tap-To-Earn model to criticism and there is a strong likelihood that investors are beginning to grow wary of Telegram-based clicker games promising good returns.
The impact of this distrust will also be felt by rival Tap-To-Earn games , and may lead to them switching from Tap-To-Earn to Play-To-Earn model in the current cycle, forcing them to activate their survival mode and enabling the latter to take the center stage again.
In the coming months, we may likely witness the resurgence of play to earn games on Telegram as the sustainability of the Tap-To-Earn model now hangs in the balance.
Notcoin’s successful launch early this year brought significant attention to Telegram’s innovative Tap-To-Earn model , inspiring similar projects like Hamster Kombat, TapSwap to join the trend.
Today, Tap-To-Earn clickers games boasts millions of players on Telegram and a combined market capitalization of over 1 billion dollars. Despite this figure, they continue to face significant challenges in their efforts to sustain investors' interest.
The much-awaited launch of Hamster Kombat , which is now a hot topic in the crypto community, came as a rude shock to millions of players who participated in the game with a huge expectation of financial return, raising a valid question about the long-term sustainability of Telegram-based tap-to-earn platforms.