Telegram Mini Apps — Capabilities, Monetization, Use Cases

Last year was marked by a series of high-profile crypto gaming releases on Telegram. Alexey Toropov from TON Society and Vadim Sterling from AdsGram shared with App2Top their insights on what Telegram Mini Apps represent after their release and the projects themselves.

Alexey Toropov and Vadim Sterling

Let's start with the basics. Telegram Mini Apps is a platform for mini-applications operating within the Telegram messenger, which had a MAU of 950 million users as of July 2024.

Advantages

The platform's main strengths include:

• the ability to launch projects quickly (without the extended moderation seen in the App Store and Google Play);
• access to the messenger's massive user base.

It's also commonly noted that developers save on commission fees. While traditional app stores can charge up to 30%, Telegram charges 0%. However, there’s a caveat regarding monetization that we'll discuss in the next section.

Capabilities

Currently, developers can provide players with a highly native experience in Telegram Mini Apps. As of November, the platform now supports:

• fullscreen mode for applications (in both portrait and landscape orientations);
• the ability to add mini-app icons to the home screen;
• access to movement and geolocation trackers;
• customization of the loading screen.

As a result, players can now even play Doom within the platform.

Monetization

Within Telegram, users can make payments to third parties through:

• bots;
• the "Stars" currency;
• the TON cryptocurrency wallet.

The last two options are most relevant for games.

"Stars"

"Stars" are the official currency of the messenger. They're purchased by users with real money through mobile platform payment systems or bots and can only be withdrawn through TON.

This leads us to the nuance of zero commission fees.

The exchange rate of Stars is complex. On one hand, they are withdrawn at $0.013 per Star. On the other hand, the price users pay depends on the chosen currency and purchase volumes (the more you buy, the cheaper they are).

As a result, a user might pay $2.4 for an IAP of 100 Stars in a game, while the developer receives only $1.3 for the same 100 Stars.

Nevertheless, Stars remain a handy payment tool within the messenger, enabling users to:

• unlock premium app features;
• purchase in-game items and upgrades;
• subscribe to paid app subscriptions.

Additionally, an update in December 2024 introduced affiliate program functionalities. Users and channels can earn Stars by bringing paying users into mini-apps (it's a referral program where Stars are awarded not for traffic, but as a percentage of new user payments).

TON

The TON cryptocurrency can be used for microtransactions, but this is generally avoided.

Case Studies

Now let's discuss some case studies. Last year saw notable stories: Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, and X Empire collectively attracted hundreds of millions of users.

An important note: so far, all major cases in the niche are tied to crypto. Typically, such products unfold as follows:

• developers launch a game, promising that players will be able to convert the earned in-game currency into tradable crypto and real money within a few months;
• through promises and aggressive advertising, developers gain significant reach (though the reality of this is debated; some believe that 80% of the audience consists of farming drop hunters earning from such projects);
• the game's token is listed;
• in most cases, players earn a minimal amount, a few dollars, from months of gaming;
• the wide audience loses interest, and the project slowly fades.

All the projects described below follow this game-burst pattern.

Notcoin: A Success Story and the Start of the Clicker Era

Notcoin is a game that became a phenomenon and sparked a wave of imitators.

Facts about Notcoin:

• It was launched as an experiment but still managed to achieve strong player base growth;
• The game was released on January 1, 2024, and within two days, its audience reached 1 million people, growing to 4 million within a week (at that point, it was considered the fastest-growing Web3 game);
• By May 2024, Notcoin's user base had reached 35 million players.

Mechanics:

• The game is highly accessible with simple mechanics: users click on a large yellow coin in the center of the screen, earning virtual currency to spend on various boosters (like multipliers or auto-clickers).

Notcoin was the first to demonstrate that Telegram Mini Apps games could achieve wide reach. Its success led other developers to create their own clickers.

Hamster Kombat: Nearly 300 Million Users in Record Time

The most famous Telegram game whose popularity extended far beyond the Web3 community.

Facts about Hamster Kombat:

• Launched in March 2024, riding on the success wave of Notcoin's listing;
• Reached 35 million users by the end of April, achieving 239 million users by June;
• At one point, it was gaining 4-5 million users per day, allowing Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, to call Hamster Kombat the fastest-growing digital service in the world.

Mechanics:

• Basic mechanics similar to Notcoin — players click on an object (in this case, a hamster) to earn coins;
• The game features a more complex meta compared to Notcoin, including various upgrade elements that grant bonuses to coin generation;
• The developers of Hamster Kombat implemented retention and viral tools typical of mobile free-to-play titles (e.g., requiring users to join real groups on various social networks for coins).

Thanks to excellent influencer marketing and strong word-of-mouth, which relied heavily on network marketing concepts (referrals also earned currency), the game quickly became a global phenomenon in just a few months.

X Empire: A Hamster Kombat Clone Achieving Great Reach

A project by popular YouTube blogger Alexander Sokolovsky, which played on the popularity of Elon Musk (Elon Mask) and the clicker trend.

Facts about X Empire:

• The game was released in early July 2024;
• Within the first three months, the game reaches an audience of 52 million people;
• Following Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential race, the game's token became the most traded on the decentralized blockchain network (TON), with trading volumes reaching $316 million (for fairness, note that now, like with all other games post-listing, volumes and token value are at their lowest).

Mechanics:

• X Empire is a Hamster Kombat clone where instead of a hamster, players tap on Elon Musk, and instead of a crypto exchange, they develop the eccentric businessman's office and enterprises;
• In X Empire, as with Hamster Kombat, players must upgrade numerous in-game menus and participate in daily activities to increase passive income.

The project demonstrated that lack of originality is not an issue in the market. Significant reach can still be achieved.

Major: Another Release from Last Year Focused on Meta Games

Major is formally a collection of mini-games, essentially a task list for maximizing gain after listing.

Facts about Major:

• Released in July 2024;
• At the time of listing in late November, its audience had officially reached 70 million people, with $10 million in revenue;
• The game's MAU peaked at 45 million.

Mechanics:

• The main focus is on a list of activities necessary to earn in-game currency — Stars (the more Stars a player collects, the greater their gain after the game's listing — the principle aligns with all the projects mentioned above);
• Among the activities: sharing referral links, subscribing to specific channels, and making real payments (the more you transfer, the more Stars you earn);
• There are four simple games that aren't even classified as hyper-casual;
• Interesting innovations include guild mechanics, where players can also complete daily quests, and a penalty system for inactivity (if you don't log in for a day, you lose 5% of your accumulations).

The project wasn't positioned as a game, but that didn't prevent it from attracting users and incorporating several mechanics from service-based games.

Conclusion

The Telegram Mini Apps platform quickly evolved from distributing simple clickers to supporting more complex products with partnership programs and subscription models. It continues to evolve rapidly, and we are confident that the coming months will showcase its further growth.