Genshin Impact: Unraveling the Secrets Behind Its 63 Million Strong Fanbase
The popularity of Genshin Impact is confirmed by the fact that in 2023 its audience exceeded 63 million players. At the same time, the fan base for action games is not only large but also active. This is shown by the case at The Game Awards 2022, in which Genshin Impact won in the player’s choice category. Sonic Frontiers fans, who wished their favorite game victory, accused Genshin Impact fans of dishonestly inflating votes for it (despite the accusations, the results were not reviewed). Today we’ll talk about the reasons for the popularity of the main game of the Chinese company miHoYo Limited.
Along with the popularity of the game, the demand for in-game services, such as boosting, has increased. Today, players no longer want to waste time on their own completing complex content or uninteresting activities – after all, they have the opportunity to take advantage of genshin impact boosting, thanks to which they can save time and effort. And now we will understand the reasons for the popularity of this legendary game.
Free-to-play open-world story game
Some people confuse Genshin Impact with an MMO: because of this confusion, articles even appear on major portals and videos on YouTube. But this action game cannot called a familiar MMO in the spirit of World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14. It is a single-player game with cooperative elements and PvP mechanics. Gacha games function much like a Japanese toy vending machine. The buyer feeds a couple of coins to the machine and receives a capsule with a random prize. Something like loot boxes, but in real life. Gacha mechanics suggest that users not only participate in battles and explore the world of the game but also collect characters.
You can collect them if you spend real money and in return get the opportunity to play something like a virtual slot machine. The characters in it appear completely randomly, and collecting them all is quite difficult due to periodically dropping duplicates. Genshin Impact and other gachas are free to download and run on a service model. The developers are constantly releasing updates and adding new characters, maps, and other content as long as the project remains popular.
A game for the widest possible audience
Genshin Impact may have microtransactions, but it doesn’t have a paywall. Game designers do not set obstacles that can only be overcome with the help of a donation. Most enemies killed in one combo, meaning even the toughest bosses die in 5-10 seconds with the right gear. However, the miHoYo studio is targeting not only casual players. In Genshin Impact you won’t be able to fight completely thoughtlessly: you need to dodge attacks, build simple combo chains, and take advantage of enemy vulnerabilities. Some of the opponents are weak to water magic, others are weak to the element of fire, and so on.
Particularly aimed at mid-core audiences are cooperative and competitive modes, the latter in the form of the collectible card game Sacred Call of the Seven. Thus, the miHoYo studio is trying to please a wide audience, although most of the key mechanics still involve a slight shift in emphasis towards casual players. In addition, being a Chinese development, Genshin Impact remains a comfortable game not only for Asian but also for Western audiences.
A game that constantly offers new content
We mentioned above the regular updates of Genshin Impact; but in addition to them, miHoYo is steadily adding huge amounts of new story content to the game. The miHoYo studio has become a real factory producing high-quality single-player content. Since the release in 2020, the developers have added two new regions to the two basic ones. At the same time, the creators of the game care not only about the quantity but also about the quality of such additions. Fans know for sure that whenever they enter the game; it will always offer them a new portion of an exciting story-driven adventure. At least, it seems that this is the message miHoYo is trying to convey to its audience.
A game with good game design
However, a game has to have an effective game design to keep players interested. Experts claim that miHoYo handles it with a bang. The ability to mix a diversity of mechanisms with simplicity of use is the first way that the expertise of game designers is demonstrated. As was already said, Genshin Impact’s confrontations are just as impressive as those in other slashers; and don’t require precise timing. To beat bosses, you don’t need to know intricate strategies. However, because the game creators upgraded the fights with modest but thrilling components; the conflicts cannot in any way be described as dull. For example, a god from the Inazuma region summons an eye into the arena; which must be destroyed by choosing the right elemental magic.
Having done this, the character receives a protective aura that protects him from an attack that can destroy him with almost one blow. The locales in Genshin Impact were also filled with so many inconspicuous hints that players may follow them like a trail of breadcrumbs. However, customers continue to believe that they solved the issue on their own in the end. This design philosophy shows through in several ways in real life. For instance, the game directs you in various ways to a pyramid that is the size of a five-story structure.
A ghost that has to be pursued on a mission, for instance; may be accompanied to such a place of interest. The same job is done by magic spheres, which need to be gathered in under a minute. Based on this, we can conclude that the developers of Genshin Impact have an excellent command of game design.
Conclusion:
The above reasons are not the only reasons why Genshin Impact remains popular. But they are definitely among the main ones. miHoYo made a game for almost everyone; casuals, mid-core players, and even a little for the hardcore crowd. The game is understandable to residents of both Eastern and Western countries. The content of Genshin Impact is not only simple but also elaborated through skillful game design.
