Multiple projects miss their airdrop dates, and the TGE of the "crazy" leading profit-making game projects remains a mystery?
When airdrops become the most concerning issue for "tens of millions of users," these project teams have to face the "difficult old problem."Author: Zen, PANews
On July 14, the Telegram game project Notcoin announced an upcoming airdrop of $7 million, of which $5 million will be allocated to stakers and level holders, while the remaining $2 million will be distributed to participating users over the next three months. After becoming a phenomenal application by being the first to use the Tap-to-Earn mechanism, Notcoin's current focus is on providing activities to continuously attract user attention, such as interacting with other newer Telegram games.
As a "model" of the Ton ecosystem project, Notcoin quickly sparked imitation from various game studios after its explosive success, with "Notcoin-like" games occupying a significant share of the Ton ecosystem games, and imitators continue to emerge. For example, at the end of June, the well-known blockchain gaming platform Gala Games launched two Telegram clicker games, "Treasure Tapper" and "Flower Frenzy"; the Web3 version of LinkedIn, Bondex, which raised tens of millions of dollars, also launched the click-to-earn game Bunny Blitz and initiated a $1 million reward campaign.
In the "imitation show" of Notcoin, several games, including Hamster Kombat, have become star projects with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of users, and when the airdrop will occur has become the most concerning issue for these project teams.
Hamster Kombat: Traffic Leader, First Airdrop Expected This Month
Telegram CEO PatelDuRove referred to Hamster Kombat as the latest internet phenomenon, with 239 million registrations in just three months. The rapid growth of users has led the team to apply for a Guinness World Record, becoming the first YouTube channel to surpass 10 million subscribers in a week.
From the perspective of user scale and popularity, Hamster Kombat is the most likely project among all subsequent games using the Tap-to-Earn mechanism to achieve "each wave stronger than the last." Its popularity has even attracted the attention and criticism of Iranian officials and scholars. In the game, players take on the role of the CEO of a new cryptocurrency exchange, with the main task of clicking on cartoon hamster images to earn coins, which can then be used to purchase upgrades for the exchange, with each upgrade increasing passive income and earning more coins.
Hamster Kombat plans to issue its tokens on the TON blockchain, with its first airdrop expected to occur this month. Hamster Kombat previously stated that user airdrop allocation would depend on hourly profits and some other activity parameters released by the team in the future, rather than the number of tokens held. When asked by The Block about the survival chances of the game after the first airdrop, the founder of Hamster Kombat expressed optimism, stating that the game will continue, with a second season and a second airdrop planned within the next two years.
TapSwap: Two Delays in Token Launch, Possible TGE in Q3
TapSwap is a click-to-earn mini-game that was praised by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who stated on his personal Telegram channel that the TapSwap team wisely relied on Telegram for distribution and utilized TON to issue the upcoming tokens, calling it inspirational for all developers building applications on Telegram and TON. As of early July 2024, the game has over 60 million players and 4 million YouTube subscribers. TapSwap was launched at the end of 2023, initially on the Solana network, before moving to the TON ecosystem. In TapSwap, players can earn TAPS coins by clicking on icons in the Telegram interface, and the game also offers bonuses, tasks, and a referral system.
In early May, the TapSwap team announced that TapSwap Pools would be launched on May 30. On the day before the scheduled release date, TapSwap's official Twitter released an announcement stating that due to the discovery of a large number of bots earning airdrop points, they were taking measures to stop and ban these bots, and the release would be postponed to July 1. However, when that date arrived, the launch did not occur, and TapSwap issued a lengthy tweet explaining that due to extensive attention on TapSwap, they needed to conduct more detailed research on token economics and the correct release strategy, thus delaying the token release date again, this time without providing a specific new date, only mentioning that they would ensure a release in the third quarter.
The community's response to the project's two delays has been polarized, with some believing the project lacks planning and should not set a date without being prepared; supporters argue that good things take time and that a quality project requires substantial effort, asserting that cryptocurrency should not be a quick wealth scheme. TapSwap has also assured its users that the delays will ultimately lead to them "truly benefiting."
Pixelverse: $7.5 Million Funding, Plans to Create a Cyberpunk Game Ecosystem
Pixelverse is a cyberpunk game ecosystem with the vision of eventually encompassing multiple blockchain games across various platforms, currently centered around the Telegram game PixelTap. The PixelTap game itself draws inspiration from Notcoin and Hamster Kombat, promising that in the future, players can earn wealth simply by clicking the screen, and it currently boasts over 50 million players. In the game, players can click frantically on various parts of the screen to attack opponents' robots, launch special attacks, and attempt to defend themselves. Additionally, players can engage in PVP and PVE battles with upgradable pets.
As the player base continues to grow, the launch of Pixelverse's native token PIXFI is also approaching. The total supply of PIXFI is 5 billion tokens, which will be used for transactions, crafting, and battles within Pixelverse. According to official documents, PIXFI was originally planned to be issued on the TON chain, but recent updates to the tokenomics indicate that PIXFI is now an RC20 token. The timing for the token TGE and airdrop has yet to be determined. Pixelverse has completed $7.5 million in funding over the past two months, with investors including Delphi Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, and Crit Ventures.
It is worth mentioning that Pixelverse founder Kirill Volgin previously founded the popular Move-to-Earn platform Step.App. Step App created a gamified metaverse for the fitness economy, built on Avalanche, where users can socialize, play, and earn by walking, jogging, and running; the famous sprinter Bolt has even served as its brand ambassador.
MemeFi: Built on Linea, May Allocate 90% of Tokens for Community Airdrop
MemeFi Club is a Tap-to-Earn game developed by the MemeFi project, which distinguishes itself from other similar games by allowing players to defeat opponents through clicking and earn rewards. Other click-to-earn games typically display a coin on the main screen, while in MemeFi, players face boss monsters inspired by memes like Doge and Pepe. Each click reduces the enemy's health and earns equivalent tokens, with specific rewards for defeating each enemy. MemeFi also offers various ways to increase player rewards, including completing daily tasks, inviting friends to participate, and using "turbo" enhancers to increase damage or "charge" to replenish energy, thereby improving game efficiency.
MemeFi has 8.6 million subscribers on Telegram and 2.3 million followers on X, claiming to have over 20 million game users. Most click-to-earn games are often associated with the TON blockchain, but MemeFi has chosen to build on the Ethereum Layer 2 solution Linea. Its $MEMEFI is a Linea token based on the Layer Zero OFT format, covering governance, rewards, income-sharing yield farming, and serving as in-game currency, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, 100% unlocked at TGE, of which 90% is planned for the community. The timing for the token TGE has yet to be determined.
Dotcoin: Delayed Launch by Half a Month, DTC Mining Still Unstable
Dotcoin has 5.5 million subscribers on Telegram and 1.4 million followers on X, claiming to have over 17 million game users. The game's interface is relatively simple, featuring a yellow dot in the center that expands as players click quickly, with rewards for each click increasing up to 4 times, and daily attempts are limited. In the "Boosts" section, players can spend their accumulated Dotcoins to increase their available attempts per day or purchase "Multitap" to increase the number of Dotcoins earned per click. Players can also view ads to increase their available clicks per day.
DTC is the main token of the Dotcoin ecosystem, designed to be mined directly through the "Boosts" using DTC tokens. In simple terms, players can purchase DTC mining machines with collected Dotcoins, and their portfolio wallet will receive a certain amount of DTC tokens daily, depending on the level of the DTC mining machine, such as receiving 2 DTC tokens daily for level 1. After the launch, players will be able to buy and sell this token.
The project team initially announced that the DTC mining feature would be launched in the first week of July, but this feature seems to still be unstable. Dotcoin first claimed on July 8 that they were making final preparations and testing for the DTC mining feature, and then on July 13 stated they were making final edits to the update, with slight delays due to security system setups. On July 15, Dotcoin launched the DTC mining test, but many users were unable to use it normally, with the project team stating that the system was overloaded due to requests from 8 million users. Subsequently, Dotcoin announced on its TG channel that they were still working to enable the DTC mining feature, and the mining button would be available soon.
More Than Just Web3: Click-to-Earn Game "Banana" Goes Viral on Steam
As many mini-games on the Ton ecosystem experience explosive growth, a game called "Banana" suddenly rose to fame on the Steam platform, which has explicitly rejected Web3 games. According to SteamDB data, since mid-June, "Banana" has had at least 300,000 daily concurrent players, peaking at nearly 920,000, making it second only to the evergreen title "CS2." This small game, only 60.8MB in size and extremely simple in gameplay, has surpassed many AAA games in popularity, primarily because it is also a free game that allows players to "earn money." Essentially, "Banana" is a "Tap to earn" game that does not require Web3 integration.
The first sentence in the Steam store description of "Banana" states: "Banana is a clicker Game," which sums up the entire gameplay. In the game, players can only continuously click on the banana in the center of the screen, and the white number above the banana increases with each click. Additionally, every three hours, the game drops a common rarity banana into the player's Steam account, and every 18 hours, a higher rarity banana can be produced.
These bananas can be traded by players, and the trading of "cyber bananas" of different rarities is the true core gameplay of this game. As more players flock in, the prices of high-rarity bananas have skyrocketed, with the highest selling for over a thousand dollars. The money earned from buying and selling bananas is credited as Steam balance, which cannot be directly withdrawn, but players can trade CS2 and other game skins on third-party platforms for fiat currency.
In Project Development, Bots are Both a Driving Force and an Obstacle
There has been ongoing skepticism regarding the explosive data released by various projects in the Ton ecosystem showcasing their prosperous development. Especially with the airdrop of Notcoin and the subsequent rise in token prices, many Telegram games have seen a significant increase in the number of bots. On one hand, these bots provide a large number of "users" for the project teams, creating an illusion of prosperous development, thus attracting more attention and funding, leading to rapid growth in various metrics; on the other hand, the presence of bot accounts dilutes the airdrop shares for real users, and project teams must address the bot issue during airdrops to protect the rights of genuine users.
The cautious and repeatedly postponed approach to token issuance and airdrops by several Web3 projects mentioned above is also closely related to the tricky issue of dealing with bots. Notcoin's anonymous founder Sasha stated that one of the biggest challenges during the airdrop was handling the bots using the platform. "Notcoin prioritizes human behavior in the airdrop and rewards those with normal on-chain activity in their wallets."
The Dilemma of Simple Game Mechanics: Easy to Acquire Users, Hard to Retain Them
Notcoin's anonymous founder Sasha admitted in an interview with The Block: "I don't think Notcoin will exist forever, I don't think it will have any sustainability. From my perspective, only games with sustainable models can survive." Therefore, regarding Notcoin itself, Sasha expressed a desire to move away from the Tap-to-Earn narrative, planning to build sustainable and efficient subsystems over the next four years to make the project independent of the team.
The simple game mechanics of Tap-to-Earn are usually easy for new users to understand and accept, and based on the expectation of earning rewards, they can quickly attract a large number of users, which is beneficial for initial promotion and user acquisition. However, due to the limited content and gameplay, developers need to continuously introduce new content and gameplay to maintain user interest, which poses a significant challenge for development teams. Recently, Tap-to-Earn games have shown relative fatigue compared to earlier stages, and users' attention seems to have shifted to new projects like the TON ecosystem MEME project DOGS.
Moreover, this model relies heavily on continuous user growth and external funding support, but growth cannot continue indefinitely. For such games that offer little in terms of gameplay, the only attraction for users is the potential to earn money. Once user growth stagnates or external funding decreases, and players realize there is no profit to be made or even incur losses, the death knell for these games will sound.
