Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news, including acquisitions, giving Apple the swerve, shutterings, layoffs and more...
Related People
Forrest Wei Liu
President
Accolades
Articles featuring HoYoverse
September Success
China’s top publishers generated $1.96 billion this September
39 out of 100 top publishers were based in China last month
Two Tactics
Too big for your rules? miHoYo tried to dodge Apple App Store fees twice in one month
Apple has scuppered miHoYo’s fee aversion tactics twice - removing apps and disabling features
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news, including big name games coming to mobile, unique marketing tactics, acquisitions and more
Flagship Festivities
mihoyo's Genshin Impact quietly celebrates third anniversary
miHoYo’s flagship celebrates three years, but it's clear that Honkai: Star Rail is the new apple of the company's eye
Making A Meal
Honkai: Star Rail goes IRL: Collaborating with famous restaurant chains around the world
Across the cosmos to the real world, Honkai: Star Rail is set to make an impact in chains near you
Chairman Comes
miHoYo co-founder Cai Haoyu steps down as chairman… Liu Wei steps up
Cai Haoyu will focus on research and development to push the company forward
Hot Five
Hot Five: Unity, Unity, Unity… Backlash dominates in PR nightmare, devs look to Unreal, and miHoYo busies itself with AI
Our quick-fix round up of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Ai Development
miHoYo co-authors science paper outlining bold AI intentions
The paper examines the rise and potential of AI in game development
Market Analysis
Honor of Kings makes $238 to become the world's highest grossing app in August
Plus the full breakdown of August 2023's biggest top ten global app performers
Gaming In China
miHoYo and NetEase block Alipay payments on iOS
iOS users were also banned from recharging via Alipay
Iphone 15 Reveal
“iPhone is the best mobile gaming platform in the world”
So says Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak as he turns to gaming to show off the real power of iPhone 15 Pro
Industry Insight
China dominates among the top 100 global mobile publishers
40 of the top 100 publishers in August 2023 were from China - three more than in July
Supergames
NetEase go for maximum 'Impact' with new RPG Project Mugen
NetEase is in pursuit of MiHoYo’s 'supergame' throne with two studios working on their new open-world urban RPG
Best Of 2023
The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2023
The movers and the shakers of the last 12 months
Insights
How Genshin Impact's devs were driven to tears
MiHoYo's president reveals how comparisons to Nintendo's Zelda Breath of the Wild were a major concern pre-release
Sensor Tower Report
37 of July's top 100 mobile game publishers came from China
Chinese publishers accounted for nearly $2 billion for the month
On The Right Track
Honkai: Star Rail races to $500 million in worldwide sales
The game has pushed miHoYo to second place in global game publisher sales rankings
Mihoyo Milestone
MiHoYo makes $8 billion in user spending with 73% from Genshin Impact
Honkai: Star Rail makes up 6% of the total in just a few months
Ranking
Honor of Kings tops Weibo’s trending list with Honkai: Star Rail in hot pursuit
The microblogging site is one of China’s most popular social media sites and offers an interesting insight into the market
Releases
NetEase’s newly-released Justice Online tops the iOS App Store charts
The game was previously tipped to use AI for character dialogue at certain points
Goliath Games
June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China
Sensor Tower reports on the 10 biggest revenue generators worldwide
Making Money
From Peak Speed to Honkai: Star Rail – who to watch in the Chinese games market
Sensor Tower’s June report reveals 39 of top 100 global publishers come from China
Summer Celebration
Genshin Impact to host real-world summer events in Paris, New York and Berlin
The game’s first-ever summer festival is coming this July
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news including MiHoYo's star performance, gaming in India and never-ending legislation woes…
Sensor Tower Report
Honkai: Star Rail races past Genshin Impact in overseas revenue
MiHoYo’s latest game continues to be a massive success according to the latest data
Financials
MiHoYo made more money than either EA, Activision Blizzard and Embracer
The Genshin impact developer is cagey with financials
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact records lowest monthly revenue as Honkai: Star Rail soars
The success of Honkai: Star Rail saw the original smash hit game’s revenue drop to $53.8 million
Success In China
Tencent and NetEase generated over 80% of revenue among the country’s top game makers
The two companies were China's top developers by revenue in Q1
Honkai: Star Rail
MiHoYo is aiming for pole position in China’s market
A month on from the release of Honkai: Star Rail, and the game continues its meteoric rise
Stellar Star
Honkai: Star Rail pushes MiHoYo ahead of NetEase for revenue with only Tencent ahead
Honkai: Star Rail starts stronger than Genshin Impact
New Release
Honkai: Star Rail races to 20 million downloads on launch day
Hoyoverse’s latest game is on the right track to break records
Sci-fi Star
Honkai: Star Rail pre-installs available now on App Store and Google Play
A reflective round-up of developments on the next, eagerly awaited miHoYo game
China Changes
Why you should be optimistic about mobile gaming in China
Game licence approvals offer new opportunities to Tencent, miHoYo and others
Various Visits
Tim Cook represents Apple in visits to miHoYo and other Chinese partners
Meeting creators behind games like Genshin Impact
Stellar Star
HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail to release in April 2023
Mobile and PC releases are coming ahead of PlayStation launch
Back On Track
Genshin Impact revenue reached an 11-month high in February as Chinese devs flourish again
Sensor Tower data found 40 of the top 100 revenue earners last month were in China
Leaks
Genshin Impact developers MiHoYo on legal hunt for leakers
The hit games' developers have subpoenaed Twitter for the names of users suspected of leaking its secrets
Chinese Culture
Tencent and other Chinese gaming companies to help promote Chinese culture
Big name companies are aiming to deliver "broader value"
Closed Beta Co-op
Could HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail recapture Genshin Impact’s success?
Final Closed Beta for the latest entry in the Honkai series coming to iOS, Android and PC
Lots Of Licences
Happy Chinese New Year! Regulators grant 88 new game licences
Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo and others to benefit with new licences for games such as Honkai: Star Rail
Genshin's First-ever Exhibition
Genshin Impact hosts its first art exhibition with life-size characters
The Paris-based exhibit features more than 16 original pieces of concept art
Revenue
Genshin Impact surpasses $4bn in lifetime revenue
Genshin Impact hits new revenue highs, bringing in over $4bn of revenue within two years of launch
Revenue Results
Genshin Impact makes it to $4 billion revenue as PUBG Mobile reaches $9 billion
Installs for both games are down compared to last year
Report
Genshin Impact scaling beyond mobile highlighted as defining industry milestone in Niko Partners' Gametech report
The latest cross-platform report goes into the current state of gaming technology with mobile playing an increasing part in pushing tech forward.
Market Impact
Genshin Impacts celebrates its second birthday in style
The game was the third most profitable title of the past two years
Genshin's Growing Giant
Genshin Impact surpasses $3.6 billion revenue ahead of second anniversary
The game made $12 million revenue on day of Version 3.0 release
Best Of 2022
The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2022
The movers and the shakers of the last 12 months
Rpg Stats
Report: 63% of RPG revenue comes from mobile
Genshin impact was the most streamed title of June 2022
Bold New Moves
Unity attracts major, local investors as it expands into the Chinese market
The move has attracted investments from some of the country’s tech giants