Genshin Impact creator taps AI for fresh ideas as Chinese video game maker faces headwinds
Cai Haoyu, billionaire founder of miHoYo, is using AI and developers poached from major Western companies to create interactive media
For decades, Chinese video games and American gamers did not mix. US audiences were receptive to all manner of weird and wonderful experiences, from Finnish game Angry Birds to Japanese Pokémon, but sidestepped anything coming out of China.
That was until Genshin Impact arrived five years ago, with two dozen plucky anime characters who fought monsters and took on quests.
The HoYoverse production was an instant hit and went on to earn about US$6.2 billion from smartphone players’ in-app purchases, according to data from Sensor Tower.
HoYoverse, the international brand of Shanghai-based miHoYo, has had much success with its anime-inspired fantasy games. It followed Genshin Impact with Honkai: Star Rail and, in 2024, Zenless Zone Zero, three games that have collectively generated more than US$8.4 billion from mobile phone sales, according to Sensor Tower.
But recently, its titles have begun to cannibalise each other. With each new release, HoYoverse’s audience migrated and the prior game’s mobile revenue roughly halved in the two subsequent quarters.