Genshin Impact rakes in US$245 million in first month, ending Tencent’s stranglehold on mobile games
- China, Japan and the US were the title’s top three markets, generating US$82m, US$50m and US$45m on mobile respectively in the first 30 days
- Genshin Impact has also become the biggest mobile role-playing game launch in the US to date
Chinese game Genshin Impact has earned US$245 million in its first month, ending Tencent Holdings’ dominance in mobile games, but stirring controversy over its potential addictiveness.
Developed by Shanghai-based miHoYo, the anime-style action adventure racked up about US$60 million in its first week and averaged a similar amount each week since, according to data firm Sensor Tower.
“Genshin Impact [has been] the biggest revenue generator globally on the App Store and Google Play since its release [on September 28],” Craig Chapple, mobile insights strategist at Sensor Tower, wrote in a report published on Wednesday.
The role-playing title, set in a “magical fantasy” world, is on track to become the most profitable mobile game in October, displacing Tencent titles which have dominated the sector. Since September last year the top grossing games on mobile platforms have been either Honour of Kings, also known as Arena of Valour outside China, or PUBG Mobile, both developed by Tencent.
But in the 30 days following Genshin Impact’s release, the miHoYo title earned more than Honour of Kings and PUBG Mobile did individually in the same period.
Chapple said China, Japan and the US were the title’s top three markets, generating US$82 million, US$50 million and US$45 million on mobile platforms respectively in the first 30 days. The Sensor Tower data does not include revenue from PCs and console platforms, where the title has a significant number of players, so the game’s total revenue may be substantially higher.
