Hamster Kombat Mania Driving Massage Gun Sales in Russia
Hamster Kombat mania is driving up percussion massage gun sales in Russia, as the Telegram-based game’s popularity skyrockets, a report has claimed.
Per Vedomosti, Russian e-commerce sites have reported a rapid rise in sales of Theragun-like massage devices.
Many of these products’ retailers are advertising themselves as “suitable for” Hamster Kombat players.
Some players use the devices to tap faster in the game’s coin “mining” feature. This feature requires players to tap their smartphone screens quickly to earn more tokens.
By setting the device to high speed and pushing it against their fingers, they are reportedly able to tap much faster than usual.
Cryptonews.com has seen a wide range of postings from massage device retailers on Russian e-commerce sites that make mention of Hamster Kombat.
Vedemosti reported that on Wildberries, device sales in “June grew month-on-month by 179%,” per the site’s staff.
On one of Wildberries’ biggest rival platforms, Ozon, demand also grew. In the June-July period, Ozon saw a rise of around 33% in both units sold and revenue made compared to the same period in 2023.
However, the third member of Russia’s “big three” e-commerce platforms – Yandex Market – told the media outlet that it has “not detected a significant increase in interest in percussion massagers.”
Wildberries employees said demand for the products had “almost tripled.” This is likely due to the spread of several viral videos of Russian players using the devices to mine coins.
A number of these videos have garnered millions of views on social media platforms such as VK and open chat rooms on apps like Telegram.
Seemingly opportunistic retailers have responded by updating product cards on Wildberries to boats that their devices are
Read more on cryptonews.com
