Genshin Impact Turns 3 - China Drives Growth
This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - A Game Grab. Check out the full article for more insights.
Genshin Impact turned 3 a few days ago and wow, time just flies. It feels like just yesterday the title launched to more than 8M downloads in its first 10 days of being out.
Fast forward 3 years and more than 70 updates across 3 versions and that 8 grew a lot.
If you're unfamiliar with the game, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play role-playing game where the player is a traveler looking for a lost sibling across the game's map. In-app purchases let players buy the game's own currency which can then be used to buy characters and weapons.
How Are the Downloads?
Since release, Genshin Impact saw 142M downloads, according to our estimates. The majority came in 2022, which was Genshin Impact's best year across the board!
In more absolute terms, Genshin Impact saw 45.3M downloads in 2022, according to our estimates. That total was 7% higher than downloads in 2021.
2023 is off to a good start but is unlikely to beat 2022's numbers. The game averaged 11M downloads per quarter in 2022 vs 10M in 2023. A small drop in percent but a big one in absolute numbers.
China is responsible for 20% of the game's downloads followed by the US and Russia, with 11% and 8% share, respectively. And keep in mind, Genshin Impact has a dedicated app for China and all the data in this analysis combines that version and the international version.
All 100 countries covered by our App Intelligence show some downloads for the title.
Like most very popular games, downloads are split fairly evenly between the App Store and Google Play, but Google Play is responsible for a tad more than half of the total downloads for Genshin Impact. 55% vs 45% for the App Store.
Let's Talk Turkey!
When it comes to revenue, get ready for a new suffix - Since release, Genshin Impact collected $1.8B of net revenue from the App Store and Google Play, according to our estimates. And like downloads, Genshin Impact's biggest year of revenue was 2022.
Our estimates show that in 2022, Genshin Impact earned $638M of net revenue from the App Store and Google Play, including from China. And this is net which is what MiHoYo gets to keep after Apple and Google take their fees.
Although Q1 of 2023 was the game's highest quarter of revenue the rest of 2023 seems to be dipping, suggesting that just like downloads, 2023 won't be as big as 2022 overall.
With so much new competition, challenges with advertising, restrictions in China, and the more dynamic nature of the App Store, this isn't a big surprise.
In terms of geography, China is also the biggest spender, contributing more than 35% to Genshin Impact's mobile revenue. The US and Japan followed with 24% and 16%, respectively.
But just like downloads, all 100 countries we cover with our estimates show revenue for the game.
The App Store was responsible for 67%, or $1.2B, of the game's net revenue. Although Google Play is usually the bigger contributor of downloads, more revenue almost always comes from the App Store. And this is no exception.
MiHoYo, the game's developer, has been very active in keeping the updates rolling with new maps, characters, and events to keep engagement. When following the trends, you can tell both revenue and downloads go up following the rollouts.
App Intelligence for Everyone!
The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
