Viral Telegram Game Hamster Kombat Is Slammed For Social Pressure Tactics

Updated: 01 July 2024

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Popular Telegram-based clicker game Hamster Kombat is facing criticism for the social pressure tactics it has employed to help grow its user base.

“I simply can’t stomach bugging any more of my friends or colleagues to sign up for this game,” said Andrew Hayward, the Hub Operations Lead and Culture Editor at Decrypt, in a recent post.

Players Earn Substantial Rewards For Referring Friends

Hamster Kombat’s user base has grown exponentially to over 200 million players in the past few weeks. By tapping their screens, players earn in-game rewards. They can then grow their rewards by investing their in-game currency into a fictional hamster-operated crypto exchange.

Hamster Kombat frequently introduces new exchange upgrade cards that promise higher earnings as well. However, many of these cards can only be unlocked if players are able to persuade friends to start playing the game via a referral link.

Specific cards unlock 5 million in-game coins for players. However, this puts players who are not able to recruit more of their friends at a disadvantage.

The hype around Hamster Kombat intensified after the team announced an upcoming token airdrop. Once launched, players will be able to exchange in-game rewards for physical cash via the crypto token.

However, Hayward believes that Hamster Kombat’s developers “may be pushing a little too hard” to ensure the hype around the project does not fade before the planned token airdrop this month.

Hamster Kombat Claims To Be The Third Fastest App To Reach 150 Million Users

Hamster Kombat’s team claims that the Telegram game has become the third-fastest app in history to reach 150 million users. The project’s social channels have also exploded since the game’s inception, outpacing renowned YouTuber Mr. Beast during the same period.

gm to 200 million Hamsters! 😱🐹 pic.twitter.com/7USoL6Lddd

— Hamster Kombat (@hamster_kombat) June 24, 2024

Its YouTube channel has grown by around 8 million subscribers since June 20 to over 31 million subscribers. Meanwhile, more than 11 million people are following the project on X. This is after Hamster Kombat’s X account grew by more than 2 million followers in the past fortnight.

The exploding popularity of Hamster Kombat is likely to benefit other gaming cryptos. Among those best placed to gain are the new play-to-earn crypto meme coins PlayDoge (PLAY), which has blasted past $5.3 million in presale, and Sponge V2 (SPONGE). Other presales with strong gaming components include eTukTuk (TUK) and Mega Dice (DICE).