Russian Expert Issues Hamster Kombat Warning After Players Voice Season-End Discontent

A Russian expert has issued a Hamster Kombat warning after many players in the nation expressed their unhappiness at the end of the game’s first season.

Per RTVI, Viktor Pershikov, an independent specialist in combating financial crimes in the crypto sector, said people who “wanted to get rich by playing Hamster Kombat” have “found themselves hostages of their own expectations.”

Hamster Kombat Warning: Developers Never Promised to Make Anyone Rich

“People who tried to earn money [by playing the game] may have inflated their own expectations. It is obvious that many people who played Hamster Kombat were trying to amass a sufficient amount of in-game currency in order to exchange it for real money. And here, it is important to understand that the [developers] never promised anything. They did not speak about any potential income.”

Viktor Pershikov, Russian crypto independent specialist in combating financial crimes in the crypto sector

The popularity of Hamster Kombat has soared in Russia, where Telegram remains the chat app of choice for most citizens.

The media outlet noted that many people have been disappointed to learn that “after several months of Hamster tapping” they “would only receive $5 to $15” for their efforts.

Hamster Kombat players can mine HMSTR coins in the game by tapping on a Hamster icon until their energy bars are empty.

Listing Nears

Many have been buoyed by news that major crypto exchanges like OKX have recently decided to list HMSTR.

This has seen some players buy massage guns in order to turbo-charge their tapping efforts, driving sales of these devices on Russian e-commerce platforms.

However, Pershikov noted that further discontent surfaced after game developers told some 2.3 million players they would be excluded from the airdrop. The developers said these players had used “dishonest” efforts to “earn more coins.”

The game’s developers have also revealed that players will only be able to claim 88.75% of their token allotments.

They will be obliged to vest the remaining 11.25% of their tokens for at least 10 months, the developers said.

2.3 Million Players Excluded from Airdrop

“No money will appear out of thin air. The [value] is determined by the developing team, based on the amount of funds that this project can provide. It also takes into account the money the project has earned in recent months. The fact that those who tapped the hamster are unhappy with this fact is their problem. The team has never announced they would be providing [big] earnings.”

Pershikov

Pershikov added that the game and its team “never promised to make anyone rich.” He explained that when players eventually start trading their HMSTR coins for fiat, the token price “will come under pressure.”

We Did Not Cheat, Say Disgruntled Players

Multiple Russian media outlets, including Sport-Express, claimed that it was “unclear” why many players had been excluded from the airdrop.

While some players appear to have used bots to “generate keys,” the outlets claimed that some very active players who did not “cheat” had also been excluded. One wrote:

“I played honestly. […] I bought skins. I watched 100 videos. And I got banned. They thought my activity was suspicious. I spent my entire vacation playing Hamster Kombat. And then I got banned.”

Fontantka Ru reported that the “eight-year-old son” of one of its employees “mined” coins for “a total of 120 days.”

The boy’s “earnings amounted to the approximate equivalent of 4.3 rubles [$0.046],” the media outlet wrote.

Some exasperated Russian players called the project a “scam,” while others created sarcastic, self-mocking memes. Others still took a more stoic view, with one writing:

“I tried to make money on Hamster Kombat, although I didn’t really believe I would. I had no doubt that all I would end up with would be pennies.”

Russian Developers?

The HMSTR token listing event is scheduled for September 26. The game launched on Telegram at the end of March 2024.

Media outlets think the tech entrepreneurs Alexander Zelenshchikov and Alexander Pasechnik masterminded the game.

They also think that Saint Petersburg-based Carmoney co-founder Eduard Gurinovich helped develop the game.

Some commenters expressed their disapproval in the comments section of the Fontantka Ru article. One highly upvoted commenter wrote:

“And they said that Russia has enough fools to last us for 100 years? Well, it seems like it’s the same story all over the world.”

Another Russian social media user lamented:

“How have we gone from being the most well-read and educated country in the world to tapping a hamster?”

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