Sony could be investing more of its resources in Chinese gaming developers that introduced popular games like Genshin Impact. The game, which was introduced back in September 2020, has reached global success with its average monthly players exceeding 60 million.
Genshin Impact's very frequent update schedule allows the game to expand its content every 6-7 weeks. The most recent major update added a new main region named Sumeru that introduced a number of different characters. Sumeru also brought the long-awaited Dendro element which added much-needed diversity to the game's combat system.
According to Reuters, the success of Genshin Impact has inspired Sony to expand its plans to incubate Chinese gaming development in order to beat out popular competitors like Microsoft. Bao Bo, Sony's director of Chinese game production, has revealed that their program will invest more than 1 million yuan, which is around $140.080, into each new game that is part of the program. Sony's China Hero Project that enrolled the first games back in 2017 will restart after it was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bao has apparently revealed that the upcoming batch of games will include over ten titles that include games of all genres. Their early involvement with Genshin Impact assured them an exclusivity deal before it became one of the world's most profitable games. President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Shanghai, Tatsuo Eguchi, stated that Genshin Impact convinced their management that Chinese games are an important part of the gaming industry which made Sony allocate even more resources to this space.
Microsoft, one of Sony's main competitors, is apparently scouting for developers that could create games similar to Genshin Impact. According to multiple sources, the tech giant and miHoYo (now known as HoYoverse) had spoken while the game was still in the early stages of development, but a deal was never reached. Despite running on a gacha-based system which is commonly used in mobile games, the game keeps attracting new players with each new update.
Genshin Impact players are still waiting for a Nintendo Switch version of the game which is still in development. The game's official YouTube channel even released a Nintendo Switch trailer months before the game officially arrived. However, there was not a lot of information since then as HoYoverse seems to be focused on developing new content for the current platforms.
Genshin Impact is now available on mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is in development with no confirmed release date.
Source: Reuters