Genshin Impactis a free-to-play game developed by HoYoverse, which waspreviously known as miHoYo before February 2022. The game has anime inspired visuals and allows players to switch instantly between a party of unique characters with different weapons and play-styles to keep gameplay feeling fresh. The game has proved to be massively popular and has a dedicated following of players coming back every day.
Though the game is ostensibly free to download and play,Genshin Impactdoes utilize gacha game mechanics which encourage players to use real money to buy in-game currency and improve their odds of unlocking rarer items. This is how the game makes its money, and is whyGenshin Impactconsistently adds new events and unlockables. These new features keep its player base engaged and therefore more likely to spend money on the game.
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This strategy seems to be working for HoYoverse, as not only isGenshin Impact’s player base massive, but the game has also now reportedly earned $3 billion from its mobile releases since launching in 2020. This is according to a report by Sensor Tower which states thatGenshin Impactmakes on average around $1 billion every six months through in-game purchases made through Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
Although it is possible to playGenshin Impactwithout ever spending money on it, the game is designed to incentivize players to spend a bit of money every month or so, which hasled some players to callGenshin Impact’s gacha mechanics predatory. Dedicated players ofGenshin Impactwill usually only end up spending around the same price as a non-free-to-play game. However, some players can go far beyond this price point, and are willing to spend money to skip past every grinding hurdle and unlock every rare item in the game.
These players that are more likely to spend a lot of money on the game areknown as “whales” in the communities of gacha games, which is a phrase borrowed from the gambling industry. It is from these whales thatGenshin Impactreceives a lot of its revenue. Sensor Tower’s report also only covers the game’s revenue from mobile platforms and does not show how muchGenshin Impacthas made from its console or PC releases. From all available platforms the game’s revenue would be far higher than $3 billion.
Genshin Impact’s player base has also been steadily increasing by around 44% every year since its release. This means the game’s mobile revenue could soon exceed $1 billion every six months, but this is dependent onHoYoverse keeping its players engaged withGenshin Impactfor as long as it can.
Genshin Impactis available for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch.
