This Week in Crypto Games: Immutable SEC Threat, 'Tomarket' Airdrop, and 'Hamster Kombat' Down Bad

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 happy to present 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

Immutable SEC notice: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Immutable sometime within the past month, a company spokesperson told Decrypt on Thursday, warning the Ethereum gaming platform’s maker that it could face an enforcement action soon.

James Ferguson, CEO of Immutable, and Digital Worlds Foundation, which helped issue Immutable’s IMX token, also received letters detailing the alleged violations. Immutable claims that the SEC did not specify the alleged misconduct in full, but the company believes the allegations are rooted in IMX token sales from 2021.

IMX plunged following the news, and is currently down 30% over the last 30 days as of this writing.

Ethereum Gaming Firm Immutable Says SEC Is Threatening Lawsuit Over IMX Token Sales

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Immutable within the last month, a company spokesperson told Decrypt on Thursday, warning the Ethereum gaming platform’s maker that it could soon face an enforcement action. The company said in a statement that the regulator also sent a letter detailing alleged violations of securities laws to the company’s CEO James Ferguson, alongside the Digital Worlds Foundation, which helped issue Immutable’s IMX token. Whi...

Tomarket airdrop: The makers of Telegram crypto game Tomarket said they generated the TOMA token on The Open Network (TON) as planned on Thursday, then revealed airdrop allocations to excited players on Friday.

But the token hasn't been listed anywhere yet and can't be traded, with Tomarket effectively beginning another rewards farming period ahead of a potential listing. The move has sparked some confusion amongst players, while other users claim they were deemed ineligible for the airdrop without reason. The developers will review such claims in the coming week and adjust allocations as needed.

‘Tomarket’ Telegram Game Reveals Airdrop Allocations—But You Can’t Trade TOMA Yet

Telegram game Tomarket has been in the spotlight for crypto gamers in recent weeks with the build-up to its announced token generation event (TGE) on October 31 and subsequent airdrop. But after the game revealed airdrop allocations on Friday, players are still waiting to get their hands on the actual token. As planned, Tomarket told players Friday how many tokens they’d earned during the farming phase, which was based on factors such as how many in-game tomatoes they earned and whether or not t...

HMSTR hits new low: Hamster Kombat's second season—focused on developing and publishing video games—was supposed to launch by the end of October. It didn't, and the Telegram game's HMSTR token has plunged to new lows since then.

It fell as far as $0.0022 on Sunday, per data from CoinMarketCap, now down 77% from the all-time high price set when the token launched on September 26.

‘Hamster Kombat’ Token Hits All-Time Low Price With Next Telegram Game Season MIA

Hamster Kombat fans are still waiting for the hit Telegram game’s promised second season following the September token drop, but a release window given by the developers has come and gone—and the HMSTR token keeps sinking in the meantime. HSMTR, minted on The Open Network (TON), hit a new all-time low price of $0.0025 on Friday, per data from CoinMarketCap. It’s now down 11% over the past week at a current price of $0.0026, rebounding slightly from the Friday low. The price of the Hamster Kombat...

Pudgy Penguins game: Ethereum NFT-based project Pudgy Penguins announced on Thursday that it is set to release a mobile game called Pudgy Party. Developed in collaboration with Mythical Games, best known as the developersof NFL Rivals, the game will launch globally on iOS and Android platforms in 2025.

Pudgy Party will be a knockout royale game similar to Fall Guys, but will focus more closely on teamwork and shared rewards in a vibrant and accessible environment. Players will be forced to work together and develop strategies so they can navigate challenges and obstacles to work their way through till the end of the game.

 NFT Revolution

Pudgy Penguins Game ‘Pudgy Party’ Revealed for iOS and Android

Pudgy Penguins, the Ethereum NFT collection that has since spawned a thriving toy line, is set to enter the mobile gaming market with Pudgy Party, a party game developed in collaboration with Mythical Games. Pudgy Party will launch globally on iOS and Android platforms in 2025. Unlike typical knockout royale games (like Fall Guys) that are already on the market, the developers say that Pudgy Party will focus on teamwork and shared rewards in a vibrant, accessible environment. "We are thrilled to...

ICYMI

• W-Coin revealed details for its long-awaited Telegram game airdrop, set for December.
• Off the Grid added Donald Trump and Kamala Harris-themed skins ahead of the U.S. election.

Battle Royale Game 'Off the Grid' Adds Trump and Harris Skins Ahead of Election

Buzzy battle royale game Off the Grid has added player skins inspired by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris skins, each featuring comical voice lines, in its latest “Save Democracy” content pack—just four days before the U.S. presidential election. The content pack grants buyers player skins based on the respective presidential candidates, with each face looking like a rubber Halloween mask. The pack is also bundled with two "Epic" weapons, as well as character emotes that show the character either...

• A teenager accused of raising crypto and offering cyber expertise to Al Qaeda has been granted bail with restricted digital access, allowing him to use his PlayStation offline-only.
• The classic Samurai Shodown fighting franchise will come to Sui and the SuiPlay0X1 handheld with MMORPG spinoff Samurai Shodown R.
• The makers of Ethereum card battler Parallel announced they will host a $250,000 esports championship in Las Vegas.

'Samurai Shodown R' Launching on Sui Network and SuiPlay0X1 Handheld

A genre-twisting revival of SNK’s classic Samurai Shodown fighting game franchise will be launching on the upcoming SuiPlay0X1 gaming device, the creators of the Sui blockchain, Mysten Labs, announced on Wednesday. The crypto handheld console aims to rival Valve’s Steam Deck by playing PC and crypto games, and is set for release in 2025. Samurai Shodown was first launched in 1993 and spawned numerous fighting game entries, with a 2019 reboot more recently renewing the franchise in the minds of g...

• Nifty Island has completed its play-to-airdrop campaign after several months and plans to launch its ISLAND token in the coming weeks.
• Pixelcraft Studios launched the Geist mainnet, a members-only Ethereum chain specifically built for gaming.
• Top-down hero shooter The Machines Arena launched the second season of its play-to-airdrop campaign.
• Ethereum game Pixel Heroes Adventure on sidechain network Ronin launched its open beta.

• Sci-fi roguelite game Wanderers chose Ethereum layer-2 network Treasure.
  
• Harris-Walz 2024 campaign launched a Fortnite map called Freedom Town.
• Degens claim that they've started launching tokens from inside Minecraft.
• Someone got Doom running on Nintendo's new smart alarm clock.

GG spotlight

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

Roland Emmerich Details Plans for ‘Space Nation’ TV Show Tied to Ethereum Game

Development for a TV show based on blockchain game Space Nation Online is underway, executive produced by Roland Emmerich, the director of “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” The show is expected to amp up the drama and stakes around the sci-fi IP while potentially expanding the reach of the connected game. Emmerich and fellow executive producer Marco Weber revealed details about the “Space Nation” show in an exclusive interview with Decrypt, with the series currently estimated to l...

How 'Off the Grid' Could Impact the Future of Blockchain Games

Avalanche-based battle royale shooter Off the Grid has experienced mainstream success that we haven’t seen from crypto games before. The third-person shooter quickly became the top free-to-play title on the Epic Games Store last month, as the early access rollout attracted a crowd of traditional gamers—some of whom may be more open to Web3 than before. But what made the big launch a crypto gaming success, and how could Off the Grid’s unique approach impact how future blockchain games attempt to...

 Artificial Intelligence

A New Era in Gaming: 'Minecraft' Clone Is Generated by AI in Real-Time

Silicon Valley computer hardware startup Etched released a demo of its new AI-generated game called Oasis, which lets players create and modify virtual environments, effectively building a complex game from scratch in real time. The Minecraft clone, named after the virtual universe created by Ernest Cline for the iconic sci-fi novel and movie “Ready Player One,” was created in partnership with San Francisco-based AI developer Decart. It’s being billed as the first playable AI-generated game. Etc...

Tap-to-Earn Isn't a Telegram Game Genre, It's a Launch Strategy: TON Society Founder

Tap-to-earn took over crypto gaming this year, garnering hundreds of millions of players via Telegram mini apps. As a result, The Open Network (TON), the Telegram-aligned blockchain that most tap-to-earn games have launched their tokens on, has skyrocketed in popularity. But the co-founder of TON Society, the organization focused on TON community operations, thinks that tap-to-earn should be seen less as merely a gaming mechanic—and more as an effective way to introduce products to users. “What...

7 Best Free Games to Play on Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch launched over seven years ago and remains a hit, selling over 140 million units in the process. It's an ancient piece of hardware by technology standards, but still one of the most popular. Games won't look as good on the Switch as they will on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X; it'll be a pretty big gap, in fact.  But chances are that if you have a Nintendo Switch, then you know some other people with Switch consoles, and that alone makes it one of the strongest pieces of gami...

Edited by Andrew Hayward