Genshin Impact
GameBy HoYoverse · Released Sep 28, 2020
Documents about Genshin Impact
Honkai: Star Rail First Month Revenue Analysis
The mobile launch of Honkai: Star Rail demonstrated significant commercial success, generating $132.3 million in in-app purchase revenue during its first 30 days of global availability.
- Honkai: Star Rail generated $132.3 million in net mobile in-app purchase revenue during its first 30 days of global availability.
- The game achieved 15.9 million downloads in its first month, with total installs exceeding 21 million when including the soft launch period.
- Revenue is heavily concentrated in Asian markets, with China accounting for 34% of total earnings, followed by Japan at 26%, the United States at 15%, and South Korea at 8%.
The Rise of Hybridization in Mobile Games: How Developers are Genre Mashing Their Way to Success
The mobile gaming industry is increasingly adopting hybridization, a strategy where developers merge two or more distinct genres to create novel gameplay experiences.
- Mobile game hybridization has expanded beyond the hybrid-casual genre, with mid-core and premium titles now integrating diverse mechanics like TCG, base-building, and shooter elements to increase player engagement.
- Developers are using viral trends, such as the 'Save The Doge' hyper-casual mechanic in X-Hero, as a user acquisition strategy to drive downloads and subsequently convert players into the game's core loop.
- Hybridization serves as a low-risk testing ground for new features; developers often introduce experimental mechanics through limited-time LiveOps events to gauge player reception before committing to a permanent implementation.
Honkai: Star Rail Tops Genshin Impact in First-Day Mobile Revenue
The launch performance of miHoYo’s turn-based RPG, Honkai: Star Rail, demonstrates significant commercial success, surpassing the initial mobile revenue generated by the developer’s previous flagship title, Genshin Impact.
- Honkai: Star Rail outperformed Genshin Impact’s 2020 launch, generating $6.3 million in mobile revenue during its first 24 hours compared to Genshin Impact’s $4.6 million.
- In its first six days following the April 26, 2023, global release, Honkai: Star Rail accumulated over $32 million in total mobile revenue.
- China is the primary market for Honkai: Star Rail, contributing 39% of total revenue, followed by Japan (22%), the United States (15%), and South Korea (6%).
Market Wire: Obey Me Nightbringer
The April 2023 market analysis examines the unexpected surge of the mobile title Obey Me! Nightbringer, which achieved the number one spot in worldwide downloads.
- NTT Solmare’s 'Obey Me Nightbringer' reached #1 in worldwide downloads for the week of April 20, 2023, driven largely by traffic from the US market.
- Despite its high download volume, 'Obey Me Nightbringer' currently shows a low Revenue Per Download (RPD) of approximately $0.07 on iOS worldwide.
- Genshin Impact climbed to the #1 spot for global revenue, helping its publisher, miHoYo, return to the top 10 mobile publishers list.
State of the Mobile Games Market: Q1 2023
The mobile gaming sector demonstrated sustained financial stability during the first quarter of 2023, maintaining performance levels consistent with the previous year.
- Mobile gaming revenue remained stable in Q1 2023 with weekly player spending averaging $1.63 billion, a figure consistent with Q1 2022 but 28% higher than Q1 2020.
- The mobile market generated 1.2 billion downloads per week during the first quarter of 2023.
- Revenue performance is heavily concentrated in established franchises, with the top six highest-grossing games—including Honor of Kings, Candy Crush Saga, and Genshin Impact—remaining unchanged from the previous quarter.
Epic Games Store: Who Is It the Bestest For?
Analysis of the Epic Games Store (EGS) 2022 performance reveals a platform that remains highly effective for AAA titles and Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) but offers marginal returns for smaller premium indie titles.
- Epic Games Store (EGS) revenue for third-party titles grew 18% to $355 million in 2022, while first-party revenue fell 14% to $465 million due to normalized Fortnite spending.
- Most games launching simultaneously on both Steam and EGS generate only 1-2% of their total revenue from the Epic platform.
- The share of EGS revenue derived from exclusive titles has declined significantly, dropping from 75% at launch to approximately 45% in 2022.
Who Will Replace the Declining Giants?: Mobile RPG Genre Report
The mobile RPG sector is currently navigating a period of significant structural transition, characterized by a 9.3% year-over-year revenue decline in 2022 despite a modest increase in total downloads.
- The mobile RPG genre is experiencing a significant revenue decline, with a core group of legacy titles responsible for 85% of the year-over-year revenue loss in 2022.
- Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework significantly impacted the genre, as evidenced by paid downloads halving in Q3 2021 and subsequent revenue declines for titles reliant on traditional user acquisition.
- Genshin Impact remains a market outlier, serving as the only title to consistently exceed 20 million annual downloads since 2017 while single-handedly raising the subgenre's baseline performance.
Why Mobile Game Studios Are Increasing the Prices of IAPs
The mobile gaming industry is currently navigating a period of economic contraction, characterized by a 6.4% decline in global market revenue in 2022 and further projected losses for 2023.
- Apple increased App Store IAP prices by 10% to 30% in multiple regions—including Japan, Korea, and the Eurozone—in September 2022 to offset the strengthening US dollar.
- Mobile game studios are increasingly bypassing Apple and Google's 30% commission fees by launching external web stores that allow players to purchase in-game items directly.
- Nintendo mitigated negative player sentiment in Mario Kart Tour by rebalancing IAP packs to include more premium currency, resulting in a revenue spike of over 20 times in Japan.
How Did ‘The Plastic Duck Game’ Become a Discovery Hit?
The unexpected commercial and viral success of Placid Plastic Duck Simulator serves as a primary case study for modern game discovery.
- Placid Plastic Duck Simulator achieved top-20 review status on Steam by leveraging streamer-friendly, physics-based gameplay that allows content creators to generate their own narratives.
- Nearly 40% of the game's sales originated from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, driven primarily by regional VTubers and influencers before expanding to Western audiences.
- Niche platforms like Tumblr, which hosts 300 million monthly active users, are critical hubs for sustaining long-term interest through character-driven fanart and microscene engagement.
Shannon's Newsletter Issue #1: Chinese Spy Balloon, Genshin Impact, World of Warcraft Refunds, the S.E.C.'s $35 Million Fine and More
This inaugural newsletter serves as a platform for independent, investigative journalism focused on the intersection of the video game industry, technology, and global politics.
- Activision Blizzard was fined $35 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to maintain adequate workplace misconduct controls and violating whistleblower protections between 2018 and 2021.
- Over one million Chinese gamers requested refunds for Blizzard titles including World of Warcraft and Overwatch following the termination of the licensing partnership between Blizzard and NetEase.
- The collapse of the Blizzard-NetEase licensing agreement highlights significant geopolitical and corporate instability within the U.S.-China gaming market.
Death in Service
The recent wave of live-service game closures highlights a systemic failure in the gaming industry’s pursuit of perpetual revenue models.
- A wave of high-profile live-service game closures occurred in early 2023, including Rumbleverse, Knockout City, Apex Legends Mobile, Battlefield Mobile, CrossfireX, and Echo VR.
- The console and PC sectors lack the 'soft launch' efficiency of the mobile industry, where developers test titles in select territories and kill underperforming projects before global release.
- Supercell’s development model demonstrates the high failure rate of live-service titles, with the company’s cancelled projects outnumbering its actual releases by a ratio of nearly four to one.
Mobile Game Market Review: December 2022
The mobile game market in December 2022 was characterized by a strategic focus on high-engagement seasonal events, major content updates, and significant shifts in monetization models.
- Brawl Stars significantly shifted industry trends by removing all gachas in favor of a new system called Starr Road, potentially signaling a broader move away from loot boxes due to looming legislation.
- Lotsa Slots overhauled its monetization strategy by doubling the coin rewards for in-app purchases while increasing ad placements from two to seven, a strategic response to the negative impact of IDFA regulations on user acquisition.
- Diablo Immortal experienced a 400% increase in daily revenue following its 'Terror’s Tide' update, which added the new Stormpoint area to drive post-launch engagement.
Companies behind it
As the documents state it.