The MiHoYo Guangchu园区 located on Changwu Road often sees long queues at the entrance on weekends. The birthplace of popular games like “Genshin Impact” and “Shingan: Star Rail” is a sacred site for many players.
According to market research firm Sensor Tower, in 2022, MiHoYo’s “Genshin Impact” topped the annual overseas mobile game revenue chart. In May this year, MiHoYo’s new game “Shingan: Star Rail” surpassed “Genshin Impact” and claimed the top spot on the overseas revenue chart. In the June list of the top 10 most popular mobile games globally by revenue, half of the games were Chinese titles. By leveraging the localization and regionalization of traditional Chinese cultural elements, Chinese video games have been able to reach mainstream audiences overseas, sharing China’s unique cultural appeal and values, and enhancing the international influence of Chinese culture.
The 2023 Annual Game Business Conference, a component of ChinaJoy, has set up a forum on “the Development of Overseas Game Business.” What did Chinese premium games achieve by successfully going global and overcoming numerous challenges?
Sensor Tower data shows the global trend in the gaming industry. Games are a global cultural language and a new form of cultural carrier, with a gene that transcends national boundaries and an inherent drive for shared development. “Genshin Impact” is a benchmark for this. “The diverse cultural creation methods of ‘Genshin Impact’ have successfully opened up the global market,” said Guan Yu, the senior business development director of Shanghai MiHoYo Network Technology Co., Ltd.
“Genshin Impact” is an open-world adventure game, with its story set in seven “countries.” Each “country” is designed to incorporate cultural elements and cultural symbols from different regions of the world, such as Mu’Den, which draws inspiration from medieval Europe, and Liyue, which is rich in Chinese cultural characteristics. The upcoming fifth nation, Fleur, will resonate with players in France and Western Europe through its early trailer. With diverse content, “Genshin Impact” was able to attract players from various cultural backgrounds when it was released globally. Guan Yu revealed that MiHoYo has assembled a team of language experts composed of users of various mother tongues. These experts not only communicate and understand in the mother language of the developers and writers but also find suitable expressions in the target language and culture to accurately convey the information and its context.
In the process of globalization, inevitable challenges arise, such as how to convey the same context and information through different language texts, how to adapt game content to the needs of different players, and how to understand and comply with the laws and regulations of different regions. Among these, making different language systems’ players “read” the diverse cultures presented by “Genshin Impact” is of utmost importance. Guan Yu said that MiHoYo has made significant efforts in this area.
The experience of MiHoYo is “to showcase the charm of the IP while meeting the preferences of local players.” For instance, the “Genshin Impact” art exhibition held in Paris, France in January attracted over ten thousand players, with the crowd even stretching across three streets. The exhibition displayed a batch of game illustrations, design sketches, and notes alongside works by French top players. These works not only showcased the cultural connotations behind the “Genshin Impact” IP but also sparked enthusiasm for fan creations among European players.
“Genshin Impact” is currently the game with the most localized content produced by MiHoYo, supporting 15 different languages and maintaining its popularity for nearly three years—a product characteristic that remains unchanged as MiHoYo progresses from mid-tier to top-tier.
“Good localization makes player interactions more enthusiastic. They will consider the game as ‘our game.’ If the operator can continuously adjust the product based on community feedback, it will be more engaging,” said Founder and CEO of Lekou Zhan Technology Co., Ltd., Wang Shen’en.
Games have transformed from isolated entertainment products to a toolkit that can contribute to multiple social sectors. “Beyond the research and innovation of traditional culture, we hope to shoulder more social responsibilities,” said Huang Zhuo, introducing that the development team of “Endless Warfare” conducted research and fieldwork in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, to present the畲族民族服装凤凰装 in digital form,
Treabar, what can we learn from the players of ＂Genshin Impact＂？
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