The Hamster Kombat Layer-2 (L2) is off to a slow start despite briefly outpacing the Solana network in transactions per second (TPS) as it experiences a slump in network activity and player count.
Having once led the Web3 gaming charge on Telegram in 2024, the game has struggled to maintain players following its contentious airdrop.
Network Performance
It’s been over two weeks since Hamster Kombat launched its L2, the Hamster Network. This gaming-centric blockchain is designed to support dApps and games that want to join its ecosystem, the “Hamsterverse.”
On March 4, 2025, the network hit 34,021 TPS, 3.5 times that of Solana at the time.
As of March 12, the network is recording just 1.7 TPS and has processed 56,133 transactions in the past 24 hours.
Hamster Kombat Slides
The spike in activity is likely related to the Hamster Kombat “GameDev Heroes Combo,” a recurring in-game event that offers additional incentives to players.
Having once boasted over 300 million monthly users, the game’s decline from the top highlights the challenges for tap-to-earn games seeking to lure or maintain players outside of airdrop offerings.
On Feb. 26, 2025, the game recorded 11.5 million monthly users. This figure has since fallen to 10.47 million.
The network is still in its early phases, and will undergo further stress tests to see what it’s capable of. However, whether or not this will attract developers or gamers remains to be seen.
