5050 M AY 2 02 1Genshin Impact
COVER FEATURE
hen Genshin Impact launched in
September 2020, no one saw its
huge success coming. It was
obviously pretty, sure, but it was
also easy to write off as another
Chinese free-to-play mobile game
filled with microtransactions and
high-pitched fairy sidekicks. What
wasn’t apparent was how it would
transcend the negative stereotypes,
pulling inspiration from beloved
classics like Nier: Automata and The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildto create an RPG that manages to
feel both nostalgic and innovative.
Or how its developer, MiHoYo,
would come to exemplify China’s
evolving games industry.In the span of just a few months,
MiHoYo became one of China’s most
prestigious gaming companies. And
since its 2020 launch, Genshin Impact
has raked in an estimated $874
million and still continues to pull in
around $175 million a month – and
that’s just from mobile players alone.
To put that in perspective, it took
Fortnite’s mobile version nearly two
years to cross the billion dollar
threshold. Genshin Impact is not only
fantastic, it’s also the biggest global
launch of a Chinese game in history.
Not bad for a company that, just a
decade ago, was made up of just
three anime nerds who were fresh
out of university.OTAKUS SAVE THE WORLD
If you started reading this and had to
flip back to the front cover to
double-check that this was still PC
Gamer, I don’t blame you. But don’t
be deceived by its roots in mobile
games; Genshin Impact is a big step
toward a future where games are free
from the barriers of your chosen
gaming platform. A future where
big-budget open world RPGs look
virtually indistinguishable between
their PC and mobile versions. And all
this started because MiHoYo’s three
founders, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei and
Luo Yuhao really love anime.
“Our inspiration was born from
our passion for technology and
[anime, comics and gaming] culture,“W
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