On the eve of last month’s launch of miHoYo’s latest online game, Honkai: Star Rail, employees at the Chinese gaming company worked late into the night.
“Everyone was rushing to launch the product. The company has thrown a lot of resources at Honkai. It’s clear the intention is to make it at least as big as Genshin Impact and to make it the main title of the company,” said one employee drafted in to work on Honkai’s release.
A space-travel anime game, Honkai: Star Rail is miHoYo’s second new title since the breakout success of Genshin Impact. How it performs will determine whether the Shanghai studio can establish an enduring role for itself as one of China’s top game developers in the face of competition from industry giants Tencent and NetEase.