Solana Gains Momentum as Web3 Games Slip From Telegram’s Grip

• Telegram’s partnership with The Open Network requires all Mini Apps to operate exclusively on TON.
• PAWS migrated its app entirely from TON to Solana.
• Other Mini Apps have Solana and other blockchain integrations, but remain on Telegram.

Last year, Telegram’s play-to-earn (P2E) titles injected Web3 gaming into the mainstream for a brief moment.

Hamster Kombat, PAWS, Catizen, Bombie and others were pulling millions of players and dollars to the messaging platform. But now, Telegram’s Web3 gaming scene is increasingly moving over to other apps and networks.

Web3 Gaming Drops Telegram

Telegram’s Web3 achievement tracking app, PAWS, had ambitions of expanding beyond the messaging app and The Open Network (TON) blockchain.

However, these ambitions went against the grain of a newly inked partnership between Telegram and TON, which would require Mini Apps to operate exclusively on TON.  Therefore, it closed down its Telegram app and migrated tens of millions of users over to Solana (SOL).

Another popular game, Pixelverse, didn’t migrate entirely away from TON, like PAWS did. What it did do was integrate Solana’s MEW token into its Telegram mini-games, essentially bridging Telegram’s ecosystem to Solana assets.

Notably, the likes of Bombie and Cattea, which both exist in the Telegram-native Catizen ecosystem, have branched out into the freeware messaging app, LINE.

In addition, both have expanded into the Kaia blockchain. Unlike PAWS, Bombie and Cattea somehow continue to operate across two messaging apps and blockchain networks.