The founders reveal their third inspiration, and this one is less obvious: TikTok.
“First, there was Musical.ly, and it almost died,” the founders say, referring to TikTok’s original incarnation. Then, ByteDance (which acquired Musical.ly) found ways to encourage sharing“People underestimate the impact of these small mechanisms,” the creators say. “Sometimes, they can turn the tide.”
There are little mechanisms everywhere. Hamster Kombat. You earn coins by inviting your friends to the game, watching YouTube videos, subscribing to the Telegram channel, etc. “We knew the only way to grow was by making everything in-game go viral,” the founders say. “We simply didn’t have $50 million for marketing.”
Going viral does not happen by accident. Every day, the founders obsessively follow real-world events and incorporate them into the game. “When Dubai organized a conference on cryptocurrencies “And suddenly it was flooded, it was a devastating situation, but you could feel the irony,” the creators say. “We went and made a card (in the game) about this. And then people started receiving this card, taking screenshots, posting on social media.”
The game is very self-aware and packed with cryptographic secrets. “I can open Hamster Kombat “And seeing this inside joke that reflects what the community is saying,” says Amanda Cassatt, CEO of Serotonin, a marketing firm. “The game is fun and funny.”
When you open it for the first time Hamster KombatIt seems so simple that it doesn’t even seem like a game. Tap and get coins. Tap and get coins. “I wouldn’t consider it a game. It’s a kind of entertainment,” says Matvii Diadkov, the founder of the Bitmedia cryptocurrency advertising network, which has created and analyzed crypto games. “It’s even more primitive than hypercasual games.”
But then something strange happens. When you explore the app, you’re faced with a dizzying menu of options for scaling your hamster’s cryptocurrency exchange, such as investing in your UX and UI team, building an NFT metaverse (remember those?), or getting a legal license to operate in Nigeria. These options are deep cuts into the world of Web3 nerds, and often require a bit of research if you’re an outsider. Each option comes at a cost (in the free coins you earn), but investing in it can increase your hamster’s hourly earnings. This can become addictive.
“I realized that strategy helps save time and improve efficiency,” says Liliya Chumarina, a 24-year-old freelance marketing professional living in Milan. At first, she simply clicked, then watched the game’s educational videos (which rack up views on social media for years). Hamster Kombat), then created a spreadsheet to help her optimize performance. Thanks to this automation, Chumarina says, “I now typically spend no more than an hour a day on it.” (Cassatt considers the game not as simple as tic-tac-toe, but not as complicated as chess either. “It’s like checkers.”)
The founders seem exasperated by the game’s “hypercasual” label. “Some people call it a tap-to-play game. That’s not quite right and it makes it simpler,” the creators say. “You just need to tap at the beginning. Pretty soon, you get access to all the passive income streams that quickly outweigh everything else.”
