Telegram sport Notcoin kick-started final yr’s tap-to-earn revolution that amassed a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of gamers on the messaging app, however enthusiasm for the mannequin has since dwindled following underwhelming token launches tied to more and more overcomplicated schemes.
Now, a yr after Notcoin’s NOT token launch sparked the frenzy, the sport’s founders imagine that reinventing traditional video video games through its lately launched Not Video games platform will immediate the subsequent Telegram gaming increase.
Sasha Plotvinov, co-founder of Notcoin, instructed Decrypt that he believes that demand for tap-to-earn video games didn’t considerably improve after Notcoin’s launch, despite the fact that the variety of video games on provide grew exponentially. This oversaturation of the market, he mentioned, is the principle cause why he believes the tap-to-earn style died out so quickly.
On prime of saturation, tap-to-earn video games had monotonous gameplay loops consisting of mindlessly tapping your display to earn in-game factors. This was all accomplished within the pursuit of a future airdrop, which more and more upset members as a rule.
As such, Sasha and his brother and fellow Notcoin co-founder Vladimir Plotvinov imagine that the way forward for Telegram gaming will probably be specializing in the gameplay above token reward schemes.
“We’re 10, 15, 20 years again… for examples of video games that have been fashionable as a result of individuals simply needed to play them,” Sasha instructed Decrypt at Token2049 in Dubai this week. “And we simply take these mechanics and attempt to replicate this in a brand new format, and in addition introduce the second layer of [a crypto] economic system.”
Studying from the tap-to-earn wave, the co-founders imagine that making a sustainable economic system through its Not Video games platform is essential this time round—resulting from the truth that most tap-to-earn token costs plummeted after their respective launches.
These economies will make the most of The Open Community (TON) to permit gamers to commerce skins and different cosmetics on an open market. Sasha burdened that they need to keep away from “pay-to-win” mechanics in any respect prices.
Sasha seems on the Counter-Strike pores and skin economic system, which is estimated to be price $4.2 billion, and thinks that Telegram gaming wants this too. He factors to the large success of cellular video games like Sweet Crush Saga and Conflict of Clans, and believes {that a} sustainable economic system is the plain subsequent step for the trade.
However why do that all on Telegram?
“It’s a lot simpler. If you wish to play a traditional sport, you might want to get it on the App Retailer and obtain it,” Vladimir instructed Decrypt. “In Telegram, you don’t must register as a result of you have already got an account—you’ll be able to simply open the online app and play in a single second.”
With this ease of use additionally comes elevated potential for social virality, which prompted a lot of the rise of tap-to-earn gaming as devs inspired customers to ask friends in trade for in-game rewards. Uliana Salo, head of design and product lead for Not Video games, believes that reinvented classics may also reap the benefits of this Telegram function.
In 2024, WeChat claimed that 500 million customers have been taking part in in-app video games on its platform every month. Sasha desires Not Video games to be positioned for the same stage of potential success on Telegram, with the app lately hitting 1 billion lively customers.
“Telegram permits anybody from anyplace on the planet to simply push a button and [play a game],” he mentioned. “From that perspective, I don’t see a cause why Telegram gaming wouldn’t succeed.”
To assist Telegram obtain its gaming future, Not Video games will proceed to reinvent traditional video video games on the messaging app. Not Video games’ first try is a reinvention of the traditional in-browser sport Agar.io, known as Void, however extra video games are within the works.
The Plotvinov brothers didn’t anticipate Notcoin’s viral success, saying that its success got here virtually too shortly to grasp. From this expertise, they realized that you simply don’t must ship an ideal product to realize notoriety. As an alternative, they plan to launch good concepts shortly, and keep agile when receiving person suggestions. That’s the technique behind Not Video games.
“We’ll transfer this manner,” Vladimir mentioned. “Typically I meet with builders who’re attempting to construct rockets, nevertheless it’s actually not essential. You may make a small batch of options, launch it, see it, get suggestions, and work with it.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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