Hamster Kombat Sees 86% Drop in Users Amid Rise of Paws Mini App on Telegram

As of early November 2024, a Protos report reveals that Hamster Kombat, the widely-used Telegram-based tap-to-earn game, experienced a significant drop in users, plummeting from 300 million to around 41 million—a staggering 86% decline over recent months.

Meanwhile, PAWS, a newly launched mini-app on Telegram, has rapidly gained traction, reaching 20.5 million users within its first eight days.

Hamster Kombat’s Challenges and Declining User Engagement

A report by Protos highlights that Hamster Kombat’s user count has fluctuated significantly over recent months.

📰UPDATE: HAMSTER KOMBAT, ONCE TELEGRAM'S LARGEST MINI-GAME WITH 300M ACCOUNTS, NOW SEES MONTHLY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS DROP TO 41M, REPORTS PROTOS

— BSCN Headlines (@BSCNheadlines) November 5, 2024

In August, active players totaled 87 million, briefly rising to 94 million in September before falling to 55 million in October, with further declines to 41 million by November.

Data from IntoTheBlock (ITB) shows a similar drop-off in activity. Hamster Kombat’s active user addresses peaked at around 772,330 on September 27 and 707,680 the following day.

However, by November 4, active addresses had dropped by over 36%, reaching just 11,860.

This decline may stem from various controversies. Russian expert Viktor Pershikov warned players about the game’s sustainability, noting that many users had unrealistic profit expectations.

Further fueling negative sentiment, Russian official Anatoly Aksakov criticized Hamster Kombat, labeling it “manipulative” and potentially misleading to players.

In response to rising concerns, Hamster Kombat issued a disclaimer to distance itself from Gotbit, a firm accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of market manipulation.

Dear CEOs,

We are committed to ensuring transparency within the Hamster Ecosystem.

In light of recent news regarding Gotbit, we want to clarify that Hamster Kombat has never worked with Gotbit as a market maker.

— Hamster Kombat (@hamster_kombat) October 12, 2024

Meanwhile, a delayed airdrop—originally scheduled for July 2024 but postponed until September—further strained user trust.

Adding to user frustrations, a new anti-cheat system led to the disqualification of numerous players, banning 2.3 million users and confiscating 6.8 billion HMSTR tokens.

🛡 PROTECTING THE HAMSTER 🛡

👿 We’ve banned over 2.3 million cheaters — enough to fill the entire city of Rome!

🏴‍☠️ Wondering how we caught them? Well, here’s an example: One person connected over 400 accounts to a single Binance address, while another invited almost 2,000… pic.twitter.com/LaHrn3ow2K

— Hamster Kombat (@hamster_kombat) September 23, 2024

These controversies have impacted the HMSTR token’s market performance.

Its price fell from $0.0051 in October to $0.0024, marking a 55% decrease and a 76% drop from its peak of $0.01 on September 26.

The token’s current market cap stands around $154.48 million.

PAWS Mini App Reaches New User Engagement Milestones

Amid Hamster Kombat’s downturn, the PAWS Mini App has gained momentum, attracting substantial user interest on Telegram.

Within two days of its launch, PAWS recorded over 11 million users, with that number nearly doubling to 20.5 million in just one week.

This growth makes PAWS one of the fastest-growing apps on the platform, drawing attention across the crypto community.

BREAKING: PAWS is one of the faster growing Telegram MiniApps ever, they surpassed 11M users in just 2 days & currently have 20,5M users after being live for only 8 days.

It’s probably nothing… 🐾👀 pic.twitter.com/fBuazaZCMQ

— Viktor 🐯🧡 (@s0meone_u_know) November 4, 2024

The PAWS community shows growing anticipation, particularly with the app’s hinted official listing date.

To bolster engagement, PAWS launched an airdrop initiative targeting users from earlier campaigns, including those linked to Notcoin, $DOGS, and Hamster Kombat.

Looks like another dogs

— Sweep (@0xSweep) November 4, 2024

As PAWS continues to grow, the contrasting trajectory of Hamster Kombat has become increasingly evident, highlighting the differing fortunes of Telegram-based gaming apps.