Genshin Impact star-striking, with dazzling visuals and captivating story

Posted Oct. 4, 2021

By Graciela Del Rosario

Staff Editor

The free-to-play game Genshin Impact is star-striking, with its dazzling visuals and captivating story; it has solidified itself as a booming, worldwide competitor in the past year with its monthly $160+ million revenue.

Developed by Chinese studios miHoYo and released on Sept 28, 2020, Genshin Impact is a cross-platform, fantasy, open-world game with fast-paced action; influenced by Nintendo’s critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With 41 playable characters so far and eight being free, players can build teams of up to four and devise battle strategies, utilizing Genshin’s unique element and artifact system. Genshin can support up to four in multiplayer and is available on iOS, Google Play, PC, Playstation 4 and 5, and a highly anticipated Nintendo Switch release.

Genshin Impact follows the story of a traveler separated from their twin by the “Unknown God." They’re then thrown into the magical world of Teyvat and its seven nations, in search of clues of their sibling’s whereabouts and the nations’ gods, or “the seven Archons.” As of Sept 2021, three nations have been released (Mondstat, Liyue, Inazuma); four more are anticipated with a possible addition at the end.

For a free-to-play game, Genshin shines like no other when it comes to its fantastic soundtrack, lore, and story. Each playable character, weapon, artifact and enemy are given unique backstories. Although it will take a while to sift through, the stories are engaging and more content is added and updated monthly. To add, the aesthetic and designs miHoYo produces are phenomenal and play out as one of the game’s biggest strengths, so much so that Genshin was awarded Apple’s “2021 Design Award for Visuals and Graphics”. The designs aren’t just fantasy-driven; they pulled from real-world cultures一like Germany, China, and Japan一which only adds to the beautiful visuals. Genshin has many strengths that keep growing, but it also has many (possibly more) weaknesses as well.

To start, Genshin can get repetitive quickly. It does offer limited events each update, and there’s plenty of story for a first-time player to experience, but players can easily burn through events and stories in a few days (there are real-world time quests, but only for limited events). In addition, miHoYo themselves have been notorious for neglecting player needs the more they realize an addition can be exploited. More recently, Genshin’s anniversary gifts have been a hot topic for most players, and not for a great reason. With a game as big as Genshin, players were expecting an over-the-top celebration with rewards and free characters/items, but initially nothing was given and it left fans outraged. It’s gotten to the point where many players quit the game, harass voice actors that had NOTHING to do with game development, flood miHoYo’s social media with complaints, review-bomb the game to the point its Google Play rating went from 4.9 to 1.9—or all four. Review-bombing seemed to be the most outlandish, considering “fans” not only went after Genshin but miHoYo’s other titles, like Honkai Impact 3rd and Tears of Themis; and unrelated titles like Clash of Clans, Roblox, and Google Classroom.

“In the gacha world, anniversary events are a big deal, and usually shower players with significant rewards, which Genshin Impact is certainly not doing,” states Forbes writer Paul Tassi. “But most importantly, while Genshin Impact is free-to-play, it has been massively profitable due to its gacha model, which some may view as borderline predatory, given the gambling instincts it taps into.”

Many of these complaints stem from how much money miHoYo has made from mobile sales alone on Genshin, and how they’re not doing enough to recognize it. According to SensorTower.com, Genshin has accumulated approximately $2 billion in revenue (not including third-party app stores), making it the third most grossing-app worldwide, behind PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings. Genshin is a “gacha-styled” game, thriving on its gambling system. Players pay for additional chances to roll and hopefully pull for characters they desire. Each pull costs 160 primogems, and additional primogems can be bought with real-life currency. The shop offers genesis crystals (which can be converted to primogems) for as low as $0.99 for a value of 60, and as high as $99.99 for a value of 6,480. This is miHoYo’s main source of income and what players can spend up to thousands of dollars in.

The character Raiden Shogun: Reign of Serenity, topped sales at $5.1 million globally during her 20 day-limited banner, and $1.5 million in her first two days of release. The lowest-earning character so far is Yoiymiya: Tapestry of Golden Flames at $1.3 million during her entire 20 day-limited banner.

Genshin is a fantastic game and is available to nearly every player. However, it is tempting to spend on, even if it does advertise itself as a “free-to-play game.