Genshin Impact bags US$4 billion in sign of rising power of China’s video gaming industry
- The game from miHoYo has achieved ‘long-term success in major mobile game countries’, according to report by analytics firm Sensor Tower
- Genshin Impact’s success has showcased potential for Chinese mobile games to win over global players amid sluggish domestic market
Genshin Impact, the video game launched by Shanghai studio miHoYo in September 2020, bagged US$4 billion in global revenue by the end of 2022 to make it one of the most successful mobile titles of all time and marking the rise of China-developed games.
The game has achieved “long-term success in major mobile game countries”, according to a December report by US app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Nearly two thirds of the revenue was generated outside China with Japan, the United States and South Korea as the top three overseas markets.
Separately, Genshin Impact was also listed as the “most discussed game” on Twitter by garnering 12,571 tweets and nearly 4 million retweets throughout 2022, according to data from UK-based market research firm Fancensus.com. The amount of retweets was more than the combined number of the next three games on the list – Final Fantasy XIV, Elden Ring and Splatoon 3.
The success of Genshin Impact has showcased the potential for Chinese mobile games to win over global players when the domestic gaming market remains sluggish due to tough regulatory controls and weak consumer spending.
The strong overseas revenue generated by Chinese games such as Honour of Kings and PUBG Mobile, two of Tencent Holdings’ most-lucrative titles, has opened a new source of foreign income for the world’s second-largest economy.
The revenue from Genshin Impact, an anime-style action role-playing game, alone was almost equivalent to China’s total revenue from exports of washing machines last year. China booked US$2.6 billion in revenue from exporting 19 million units of washing machines in the first 11 months of 2022, according to China’s customs data.
Genshin Impact racked up US$1 billion within six months after launch, three months faster than Pokémon Go achieved. On its second anniversary this September, it had seen 37.3 million downloads in the year, a decrease of only 7 per cent compared to the same period last year.
