Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game developed by HoYoverse, which was previously 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 Impact does 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 why Genshin Impact consistently adds new events and unlockables. These new features keep its player base engaged and therefore more likely to spend money on the game.
This strategy seems to be working for HoYoverse, as not only is Genshin 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 that Genshin Impact makes 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 play Genshin Impact without ever spending money on it, the game is designed to incentivize players to spend a bit of money every month or so, which has led some players to call Genshin Impact’s gacha mechanics predatory. Dedicated players of Genshin Impact will 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 are known as “whales” in the communities of gacha games, which is a phrase borrowed from the gambling industry. It is from these whales that Genshin Impact receives a lot of its revenue. Sensor Tower’s report also only covers the game's revenue from mobile platforms and does not show how much Genshin Impact has 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 on HoYoverse keeping its players engaged with Genshin Impact for as long as it can.
Genshin Impact is available for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch.
Source: Sensor Tower