A profile of Genshin Impact creator HoYoverse, which is exploring new game genres as its titles begin to cannibalize each other and its revenue declined in 2024
HoYoverse plots a future path to reach further than its anime roots — For decades, Chinese video games and American gamers just didn't mix. Bluesky: @jaysheen . X: @zhugeex , @cecianasta , and @cecianasta Bluesky: Jay Sheen / @jaysheen : “More than a third of available jobs at game companies globally are in Asia” — “China is today the No.1 video game market, generating $50 billion from games this year” — I'd assume it's wise for people on the field to learn chinese, korean and japanese. — www.bloomberg.com/news/article... X: Daniel Ahmad / @zhugeex : Includes data from Niko Partners: Cecilia D'Anastasio / @cecianasta : New: Inside HoYoverse—the first Chinese game-maker to crack the West. HoYoverse made billions from anime babe RPGs, but the data shows its games cannibalized each other. My deep dive into how the company plans to stay on top (with some fun scoops): https://www.bloomberg.com/... Cecilia D'Anastasio / @cecianasta : ZZZ didn't meet HoYoverse's expectations, sources say. 2024 revenue fell 23%, per @nikopartnersinc. Now it's developing games in entirely new genres, with the 2030 goal of crafting an all-encompassing virtual world: “We have never been a game company.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
HoYoverse’s rise followed Genshin Impact’s emergence as a China-made fantasy RPG with global reach, part of a broader push by Chinese publishers into overseas markets as domestic growth slowed and approvals tightened. The profile now tests whether that export formula can support multiple closely related live-service titles.
The company is also operating against renewed confidence in Chinese premium-game investment after Black Myth: Wukong’s commercial success. HoYoverse’s reported revenue decline and audience overlap show that international scale does not remove the portfolio-management problem.
First-order effects
- HoYoverse must contend with a 23% reported 2024 revenue decline while its existing games compete for the same players’ time and spending; ZZZ reportedly fell short of internal expectations.
- Its move into entirely new genres shifts the development slate beyond anime-style RPGs and supports its stated positioning as more than a conventional game developer.
Second-order effects
- New HoYoverse releases will need clearer audience segmentation and release positioning, rather than relying on another similar title to expand the same player base.
- Broader genre ambitions put HoYoverse in more direct competition with a wider set of global game makers, while raising the execution risk and cost of building unfamiliar types of games.
Third-order effects
- If audience cannibalization persists, Chinese studios’ overseas strategy may shift from exporting a single proven genre toward managing differentiated, multi-title service portfolios.
- HoYoverse’s virtual-world ambition suggests a longer-term contest to retain users across interconnected entertainment experiences, though success depends on whether genre expansion produces distinct audiences rather than further overlap.
The trend: Chinese game publishers are evolving from single-hit global exporters into diversified live-service portfolio operators, where player attention is as scarce as market access.