The growing popularity of the play-to-earn blockchain game"Hamster Kombat" has drawn sharp criticism from Iranian government officials and hardliners, who claimed the simple play-to-earn tap game is an instrument of soft power projected by Western nations.
Habibollah Sayyari, the deputy chief of the Iranian military, claimed the game was meant to distract the Iranian population from the country's upcoming elections. Sayyari's comments were echoed by religious authority Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, who characterized the entire field of cryptocurrencies as fraud-ridden.
Despite the increased traction of Web3 games in the developing world, blockchain gaming still lags behind traditional gaming and is far from achieving mainstream adoption. A recent OnePoll survey revealed that 52% of respondents were not aware of blockchain gaming at all, and another 32% indicated they knew about blockchain games but never played one.
These numbers suggest both a massive untapped market but they are also reflective of broader problems with play-to-earn games like