Telegram’s gaming scene faces a hiccup as Catizen and Hamster Kombat delay their token drops

Now that both Catizen and Hamster Kombat have missed their airdrop dates, what are the underlying issues causing these delays?

There has been a lot of buzz in the Telegram gaming community lately about two highly anticipated token airdrops: CATI from puzzle game Catizen and HMSTR from viral tap-to-earn (T2E) game Hamster Kombat.

Both were set to launch their tokens on The Open Network (TON) in July. As the end of the month approaches, neither has delivered on their promises, causing disappointment among eager players.

Catizen’s creators, Pluto Studio, publicly addressed the delay, citing scheduling difficulties.

Similarly, the Hamster Kombat team has hinted on social media that their token may not be released this month, although their website still lists July as the target date.

Let’s understand what’s happening and why there are delays.

Why was Catizen’s airdrop paused?

Catizen is a web3 social entertainment platform that aims to create a decentralized application on Telegram that combines mini-games, short dramas, and e-commerce.

Catizen has over 27 million active users worldwide and has processed over 20 million on-chain transactions to date.

In addition to this success, Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently stated that Catizen has made $16 million from in-game purchases. Impressively, they donated 1% of that amount to saving homeless cats.

The planned CATI token airdrop, which included 43% of all CATI tokens being distributed using the TON blockchain, was eagerly awaited by the Catizen community. However, the draw has been postponed.

According to Pluto Studio, the developer behind Catizen, several challenges arose during the planning stages. They cited the need to optimize key elements such as securing leading exchanges, ensuring sufficient liquidity, and setting the listing price. Compliance and market sentiment also played a role in this delay.

Dear Catizen Community,

We have received many honest questions regarding the progress of our airdrop and concerns regarding recent changes to Catizen. We are confident that these changes will benefit Catizen and its players in the long run.

We welcome any feedback and…

— Catizen (@CatizenAI) July 29, 2024

Pluto Studio also announced that seed round investors, advisors, and team will receive 0% of CATI tokens in the token generation event (TGE). Instead, there will be a 12-month cliff period followed by a 4-year vesting schedule. This strategy is designed to align the interests of developers and the community and ensure the long-term value of the CATI token.

The Catizen team asked for patience and understanding from their community, promising that they are doing everything possible to achieve the expected results.

In addition to the delay in the launch of its tokens, Pluto Studio has also faced player disappointment over a $100,000 donation to animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) earlier this month.

The donation was part of an effort to share a portion of the game’s profits with charities that help stray cats, but PETA’s controversial history of putting animals to sleep beyond help has caused a backlash.

On July 29, Pluto tweeted that they had ‘received feedback’ about PETA’s practices and were ‘temporarily suspending’ their collaboration. They explained that all Catizen donations to PETA would only be used for feeding, vaccination, rescue, and adoption assistance.

Community Voice Heard, Feedback Collected, Action Taken!

We received feedback from the community regarding PETA’s past actions regarding euthanizing animals. In response, we reached out to the PETA team and received the following confirmation:

1. PETA provided an official 🔗…

— Catizen (@CatizenAI) July 29, 2024

On the other hand, Bybit, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, announced that it will list the CATI token on its pre-market trading platform on July 30.

Hamster Kombat airdrop delay

Hamster Kombat is a popular game created within the messaging platform Telegram. In Hamster Kombat, players act as the hamster CEO of a fictional cryptocurrency exchange, aiming to take their startup to the top of the industry by investing in marketing, licenses, talent, new products, and more.

Hamster Kombat has become a major player in the Telegram gaming community, reaching over 250 million players in just a few months, but it has also drawn criticism from government officials in the process.

In May, Hamster Kombat announced via Twitter their decision to launch their token HMSTR on the TON blockchain. Their website still lists a July date for the TGE. However, as July is coming to an end, the token has yet to be launched.

Hamster Kombat recently addressed the community with another tweet explaining the situation. They emphasized the complexity of the technical task involved in the airdrop, considering Hamster Kombat’s scale as one of the largest projects in the industry, which could result in the largest airdrop in history.

Dear CEOs,

We’ve received many comments about our new Playground section and would like to respond to them.

First of all, let’s note that participation in various events will affect the amount of tokens to be received in the upcoming airdrop, not the distribution itself – all…

— Hamster Kombat (@hamster_kombat) July 29, 2024

They assured players that they are actively working to ensure the airdrop goes smoothly, addressing potential network overload issues to ensure every player receives their tokens.

The rise of Telegram-based crypto games in 2024

2024 has been incredibly positive for Telegram-based crypto games, with interest in these games increasing and the number of users increasing dramatically.

It is pioneered by Notcoin (NOT), a game launched by Open Builders in early 2024. Notcoin’s success lies in its simple and engaging T2E mechanism that allows users to easily earn cryptocurrencies.

Notcoin’s simple gaming model quickly gained popularity, landing it in the top 100 coins by market cap. As of July 30, it sits in 63rd place with a market cap of over $1.3 billion.

Notcoin’s success has paved the way for other Telegram-based games like Hamster Kombat and Catizen, leveraging the popularity of the TON blockchain.

Other projects like YesCoin (YES) and TapSwap (TAPS) have also contributed to the overall trend by seeing an increase in usage and popularity.

The increasing interest in Telegram-based crypto games paves the way for Hamster Kombat and Catizen to successfully launch their airdrops.