miHoYo’s new game Honkai: Star Rail makes bigger splash than Genshin Impact on launch but does it have staying power?

A new video game from MiHoYo, its first since global sensation Genshin Impact, has proved a hit with players as the Shanghai-based studio continues its stellar form.

Honkai: Star Rail, a role-playing anime game based on miHoYo’s Honkai series, has now surpassed Genshin Impact as the biggest global launch of any Chinese video game, according to Sensor Tower data. The mobile and PC versions of the game launched on April 26.

Comparing the first-week download and revenue data of the two games in the global mobile gaming market, Honkai: Star Rail had a download number 1.6 times that of Genshin Impact, and a revenue figure 1.3 times that of Genshin Impact for the same period, according to a recent report published by Sensor Tower. The app analytics firm did not provide an exact revenue figure.

Driven by the new game launch, miHoYo’s revenue from the mobile side increased by 45 per cent in April from March, overtaking NetEase to become the second-most-grossing mobile games publisher in China, behind Tencent Holdings, according to the Sensor Tower. The report also dubbed the new title as “the most heavyweight new game this year” with its “high-quality content and vigorous marketing campaigns”.

According to real-time data from market research firm AppMagic, the title has so far racked up over US$50 million of revenue on smartphones alone. However, since the game was launched in both mobile and PC formats, total revenue is expected to be even higher than this.

Privately-owned MiHoYo, which has never disclosed its financial figures, has not released revenue numbers for the new game, although it has said the title amassed 20 million downloads by the second day of launch.