Notcoin says tap-to-earn ‘probably dead’ as Telegram games see shift

Notcoin, one of the most prominent Web3 gaming projects of 2024, said the tap-to-earn genre is “probably dead” as Web3 gaming shifts to more fun and engaging projects.

During Token2049 in Dubai, Notcoin co-founders Sasha and Vladimir Plotvinov, along with Uliana Salo, the head of design and product lead for Not Games, spoke with Cointelegraph about the state of Telegram-based Web3 gaming.

Vladimir told Cointelegraph that game builders are shifting to different game genres as tap-to-earn failed to sustain players’ interests.

“We’re going to see different types of games, as tap-to-earn games are probably dead because they’re not sustainable,” he said.

Notcoin says tap-to-earn ‘probably dead’ as Telegram games see shift

Notcoin’s Sasha (left), and Vladimir Plotvinov (middle), and Uliana Salo (right) at the Token2049 event in Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph

Gamers want a “fun time” with friends

In 2024, Notcoin was one of Telegram’s most popular tap-to-earn games, onboarding more than 30 million users within three months of its release. In a previous interview, Sasha attributed the game’s growth to its ability to “solve the issue” of onboarding Telegram users into crypto.

While Telegram gaming exploded in 2024, gamers soon went game-hopping, moving to other games as soon as they “farmed” what they could in one project. Sasha told Cointelegraph:

“Users who come to farm — their motivation is just to earn something. And with games, it’s more like I have fun, I want to play with my friends, and I want to play within a group.”

He added that while Telegram’s first wave of games didn’t provide that social element, Web3 can still play a vital role in the platform’s gaming ecosystem.

He told Cointelegraph that Telegram games started to shift to models that move away from simply “farming” tokens. In these new experiences, the Web3 economy part becomes an “add-on” instead of the main value proposition.

However, development may take some time. Sasha told Cointelegraph that Telegram has no “real games” yet, but is optimistic for the future.

How artificial intelligence improves Web3 gaming development

Vladimir told Cointelegraph that artificial intelligence and Telegram have made creating games easier for Web3 developers.

The Notcoin co-founder said that the advent of AI technology allowed developers to be faster and more efficient when writing game code:

“It saves time. My speed of delivery becomes faster. I write code faster than usual because I save a lot of time on other easy tasks.”

However, he urged developers to pay attention when using AI when creating their projects.

“You have to pay a lot of attention, have the expertise and experience because you have to see like how the API will work, how it will be connected to each other, how it will work on high load with a lot of users,” Vladimir said.

Telegram Web3 gaming to grow exponentially

When asked if Telegram’s Web3 gaming industry will still grow despite the perceived death of tap-to-earn, Salo told Cointelegraph that Telegram has a market similar to Facebook and WeChat, which are platforms with their own gaming ecosystems.

“We believe in our chances because we already have a similar platform like WeChat and Facebook that already have their game ecosystems, and it’s a huge market. The number of users is practically the same,” she said.

Salo noted that Telegram’s gaming scene currently lacks major publishers and investor funding, but she expects exponential growth.

Salo added that they’re trying to get to a point where gamers play not just to get tokens but because it’s fun. “We're trying to get this extra part, like this ‘fun’ with something that people are doing not only for money, just for themselves,” Salo said.