Web3 Watch: Tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat gears up for Season 2

The TON layer-1 blockchain’s viral tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat is launching its second season at the end of October.

When the game launched in March 2024, its first season saw players running a fictional tier-one crypto exchange.

Players in the second season will act as a game development studio CEO in charge of marketing, HR and merchandise launch, as per a video teaser.

Hamster Kombat launched its HMSTR token in late September, and was listed across major exchanges like Binance, OKX and Crypto.com.

Read more: Web3 Watch: Telegram tap-to-earn is the new crypto gaming trend

HMSTR sits at a $247 million market cap as of Friday, down from about $560 million on its token generation event. 

According to its white paper, Hamster Kombat has no venture-backed investors and 60% of its total 100 billion HMSTR token supply is allocated to players.

On the game’s roadmap for Q4 2024, season two will incorporate NFT mechanics and other external payment systems.

Moonray announces 2025 PS5 launch

The AAA game Moonray announced Thursday its planned 2025 launch of the PlayStation 5 console.

Moonray is a player-versus-player battle arena blockchain-based game that previously launched a “play-to-airdrop” campaign in June, as well as NFT sales of in-game skins in 2022.

To stay compliant with platform policies however, Web3 features have been stripped from its PS5 release.

Read more: A wave of new games could prove NFTs aren’t dead after all

Previously on the Ethereum L1, Moonray announced it would move its blockchain features to the Base layer-2 in June.

The game has been available to play in “Early Access” mode for PC on the Epic Games store since July 2024, but will also be available on Steam eventually.

According to a press release, Moonray is backed by investors including Animoca Brands, Republic Crypto, C2 Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Huobi Ventures, Cardano Ventures and Master Ventures.

One interesting stat:

• Web3 gaming company Azra Games announced a $42.7 million Series A funding raise led by Pantera Capital, with participation from a16z and NFX ventures.

Also of note:

• BlockBar, a blockchain-based wines and spirits marketplace, is launching an “artisanal producer” program to include smaller batch alcohol from independent producers.
• Big things are coming for Nouns Esports as the team plans to scale into a professional league with onchain mechanics.
• The Gods Unchained Web3 trading card game just launched its latest Tower of Dread expansion.

Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.