This Week in Crypto Games: ‘Hamster Kombat’ Airdrop, GTA 6 Bitcoin Trailer, and McDonald’s Metaverse

The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re debuting This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

Hamster Kombat explodes: Telegram-based game Hamster Kombat has quickly become the buzziest game in the crypto world, and now the studio says it has amassed more than 100 million total players. That’s an immense number—roughly 1/9 of the entire Telegram user base, and three times the players that Notcoin amassed before closing its “mining phase.”

There’s been immense social interest around the crypto exchange management clicker game, with its official Telegram channel becoming the biggest overall on the messaging platform, plus lots of demand for the daily combo and daily cipher code that earn players millions of free coins.

Last week, the Hamster Kombat team revealed that the token launch on The Open Network (TON) is currently targeted for July, giving players a target for the airdrop.

‘Hamster Kombat’ Telegram Game Hits 100 Million Players—Here's When the Token Is Coming

Hamster Kombat, the latest Telegram-based game to follow in the footsteps of crypto gaming sensation Notcoin, is seeing skyrocketing interest ahead of the upcoming token launch on The Open Network (TON). Now the team has revealed a massive milestone for players and has teased a launch target for the impending token. On Wednesday, the Hamster Kombat team announced that it has drawn 100 million players into the Telegram mini app to date, blasting upwards from a claimed mark of 60 million players l...

GTA 6’s ‘Buy BTC’ leak: There have been all sorts of rumors about Grand Theft Auto implementing cryptocurrency for its next big game, but it was still a huge surprise when the first GTA 6 trailer leaked last December with “BUY BTC” plastered on top. It had been added by the leaker, however, and there’s currently no indication the game will actually feature Bitcoin.

But now we know a bit more about how that moment came to be. Reliable pseudonymous crypto sleuth ZachXBT shared apparently leaked messages between the leaker (called Skenkir) and allies, where they discussed swiping the trailer from the official YouTube account of Rockstar Games before adding the BTC branding and leaking it on Twitter. Click here for more.

How the Infamous 'Buy Bitcoin' GTA 6 Game Trailer Was Leaked

New details are coming to light about the person/persons responsible for the leaked Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer that was posted to Twitter in December 2023 with a “Buy $BTC” watermark. On Thursday, pseudonymous internet sleuth ZachXBT shared new information about the possible identity of the leaker, saying that the person in question swiped the official trailer from YouTube via unauthorized access. It was then shared via Twitter a day before the planned release, but with the Bitcoin plug overlaid...

McDonald’s metaverse: Grimace fans, unite! Fast food chain McDonald’s has launched its own metaverse game in Singapore, and owners of the 2,000 Grimace NFTs released last year in the country can access exclusive features thanks to token-gating.

 NFT Revolution

McDonald's Just Launched Its Own Metaverse—And Grimace NFT Owners Are VIPs

McDonald's Singapore now has its own metaverse world called “My Happy Place,” offered through its official app in collaboration with Bandwagon Labs—and people who own official Grimace NFTs launched in 2023 get special perks in the digital locale. The 3D online environment allows users to play games like Build-A-Burger, envision future McDonald's restaurant designs, and participate in daily contests offering real-life food deals and prizes through the Wheel of Deals feature. My Happy Place runs o...

ICYMI

• Arbitrum has unlocked $220 million worth of ARB (at the current price) to help fund gaming ecosystem growth over three years. Read more about the initiative.
• The Sandbox has raised $20 million in new funding that values the Ethereum metaverse game platform at $1 billion.
• Leading Ethereum wallet MetaMask has implemented a game launcher thanks to an integration with crypto gaming store HyperPlay.
• Notcoin is handing out $1 million in NOT tokens in total to thousands of early users who traded the game’s pre-market NFT vouchers before the coin went on-chain.
• Pirate Nation plans to launch its PIRATE token on June 13.

• The developer of Sui third-person shooter has raised $7.5 million to help launch the blockchain game later this year.
• Sky Mavis recovered another $5.7 million worth of assets stolen in the $622 million Ronin bridge hack from 2022.
• Ethereum layer-3 gaming network Xai will kick off its Vanguard: Genesis campaign this week with a series of game launches and new token rewards.
• The Mystery Society, which launched on Polygon, is shifting to Immutable.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

‘Hamster Kombat’ Daily Combo Guide: How to Earn 5 Million Free Coins in the Telegram Game

Hamster Kombat is the latest Telegram-based gaming sensation, recapturing the Notcoin clicker vibes with the promise of a token launch and airdrop on The Open Network ahead. But there’s more happening with Hamster Kombat than just clicking or tapping a screen to rack up coins. As the hamster CEO of a fictional crypto exchange (yes, really), it’s your job to boost your up-and-coming startup to the top of the industry, and you’ll do so by investing in things like marketing, licenses, talent, new p...

‘Hamster Kombat’ Daily Cipher Guide: How to Use Morse Code to Earn a Million Free Coins in the Telegram Game

If you’re playing Hamster Kombat on Telegram, then you’re surely trying to rack up as many in-game coins as possible ahead of the token launch on The Open Network (TON) and accompanying airdrop. The daily combo is a solid option, but now there’s another way to bank a million free tokens every single day. The daily cipher is a new addition that lets you tap a specific daily term in Morse code and immediately get one million free in-game coins. It’s as simple as that. Here’s how to enter the daily...