Shanghai-Based Games Publisher miHoYo Accelerates Global Expansion

Liu Wei, the founder and president of Shanghai-based games publisher miHoYo, said on January 10 that 2022 was a particularly unique year for Shanghai, and that in the past five years, relying on the city’s innovative and entrepreneurial environment, the company’s global business has made great progress, The Paper reported.

In 2011, when Liu Wei was about to graduate, he decided to start a business with his classmates Cai Haoyu and Luo Yuhao. With an interest-free loan of 100,000 yuan ($14,782) provided by the Shanghai Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center to college entrepreneurs and a 50 square meter office that could be used free of charge for half a year, the new company was registered and established in Shanghai’s Xuhui District.

miHoYo’s Genshin Impact game has made solid achievements across the world since its launch. This is especially true of 2021, when it won the Best Mobile Game Award issued by The Game Awards, which is known as the “Oscars for the game industry.” This was the first time that an original game by a Chinese development team had won this honor.

miHoYo attaches great importance to differentiated content settings that attract overseas players. For example, there are seven countries involved in the game, especially Mondstadt, Inadzuma and Liyue with Western, Japanese and Chinese styles respectively.

According to data released by Sensor Tower, since miHoYo officially released Genshin Impact in September 2020, it has accumulated $4.1 billion in the world, ranking third in terms of global mobile game revenue. Among them, revenue from overseas markets has accounted for nearly two-thirds, including $960 million from the Japanese market, $860 million from the US market and $250 million from the South Korean market.

Regarding the future development direction of miHoYo, Liu Wei said that at present, the company’s international business has a high proportion, accounting for nearly 50%. In the future, it will continue to consolidate its international business by relying on the environment of innovation and entrepreneurship in Shanghai, as well as increase the cultural and scientific attributes of products. In terms of science and technology, it will increase investment in cartoon rendering, artificial intelligence and cloud games.

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Talking about the layout of its overseas business, Liu said that as a global enterprise, miHoYo has its own offices in Los Angeles, Montreal, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo. “At present, the challenges of the game industry at home and abroad are very great,” said Liu. “We are still in the process of learning and adjusting, and we will continue to exert our strength on the road to internationalization in the future.”

Regarding the metaverse, Liu Wei said he hoped to create a virtual world in which 1 billion people are willing to live by 2030. “Now metaverse is also an important new development path in Shanghai. Our generation of young startups actually have the opportunity to participate in global competition. I hope to have the opportunity to make products with global influence in this field in the next decade,” said Liu.