Back to E3 2019, there was bubbling hype for a so-called “anime BoTW clone” called Genshin Impact. Turn over a few pages to spring of 2021, and Genshin Impact has hit its $1 billion milestone on mobile alone. What started as a humble adventure with Paimon has turned into one of the most significant forces in gaming right now. This sum only becomes wilder when you consider that this doesn’t include revenue from its PC and PS4 platforms.
According to the mobile app data-cruncher Sensor Tower, Genshin Impact is the fastest title to surpass the $1 billion mark in the mobile game market. Few mobile games have been as successful in such a brief amount of time. For example, megahits like Pokémon GO and Lineage M took nine to ten months to reach the same profitability level.
Player spending averages about $5.8 million daily, with a mean of about $160 million monthly since December last year. This staggering income’s primary source is the gacha model of Genshin Impact, where players gamble to get new playable characters and top-tier weapons. According to miHoYo co-founder Cai Haoyu, the secret of the game’s success is a strategy he called “paying for love.” By continuously adding to the playable roster with overly attractive anime girls (and guys), Genshin Impact leans on the gamers’ desire to connect with them — through their wallets.
Earlier, we mentioned that Genshin Impact was often (and still is) compared to Breath of the Wild. To further put things into perspective, the total sales of BoTW on the Switch and Wii U have reached roughly past $1.2 billion over its lifetime. On the other hand, Genshin Impact is boasting more players and earning revenue faster in a significantly shorter time than BoTW could ever have.
Genshin Impact is a cutting-edge gacha game with an eye-catching art style and remarkable open-world exploration. With its simple but satisfying combat to its charming cast of characters, the game is bursting with personality. The ongoing live events and new updates will undoubtedly keep players coming back. Bear in mind, the folks at miHoYo are still working on a port for the Nintendo Switch platform. With such a broad reach to a massive audience, the beast has yet to be filled, with odds of more success down the line looking very high for Genshin Impact.
