How Genshin Impact Rakes in $1 Billion USD Every 6 Months
It's not the gacha.
PUBG and Fortnite got it right—100 people drop in, and only one leaves alive. People love it. It’s chaos, skill flexing, and shouting with frens in the mic.
Minecraft and Roblox nail it too. People create, people share. The community eats it up. Players feed off each other’s energy.
These games thrive on network effects. It’s textbook. The more people play, the more it grows.
Then there’s Genshin. Different beast. Casual. Single-player. No PvP, no squads. So where’s the network effect. Maybe there’s none. And yet, it prints money.
It’s Not Just the Gacha
Gacha’s there, sure. But it’s not as dirty as you’d think. You can play for free. No one’s shoving a credit card in your face.
The real money comes from emotions. The need to simp for waifus and husbandos. Genshin’s characters are polished. Every detail, every backstory. You want to collect them, and bond with them. That bond is the cash cow.
These virtual collectibles hold emotional value. Whales justify dropping thousands of dollars because they feel a connection. It’s like why people pay millions for art—except it’s cute anime girls with boobs, and personality of course.
Emerging Culture
Genshin taps into this emerging culture—anime, isekai, waifu/husbando obsession. It rode the COVID trend back in 2020 when everyone was at home, and VTubers were blowing up. miHoYo saw the trend and dove in headfirst.
They’re obsessed. Look at their 2012 funding proposal. Look at their slogan. They were built for this.
The Music
Genshin’s music hits hard—take Fischl’s theme above. It plays during her character event, but most players miss the full track since it’s used for quick, 5-second fights. The music’s on par with boss battles—high effort, dramatic, and way too epic for such short moments. It captures Fischl's over-the-top, chunibyo vibe perfectly.
Take the Scaramouche boss theme above. Phase 1 has this clever 3-time signature beat (actually a 4/4 with the illusion of 3/4—a polyrhythm). To me, it symbolizes the three betrayals he faces in the story. Then, Phase 2 drops in with a Japanese-style twist, nodding to his origins (Inazuma). It’s character lore in sound form.
The Storytelling
The character story teaser above repeat phrases but use different intonations to shift their meaning.
The teasers above showcase opera elements from distinct cultures, merging them into the narrative. And it’s breaking the fourth wall as well, because you, as the player, are part of the story. They sang a song about your role in the story.
Genshin incorporates symbolism, cultural references, and allegory to craft its story rather than just laying it out flat.
Version 1.0: A play on freedom, from Western and Eastern perspectives.
Version 2.0: A play on eternity and change, hinting at Sakoku.
Version 3.0: A play on wisdom with a Middle Eastern/North African backdrop.
Version 4.0: A play on justice, dripping with European, French-like vibes.
Meme
Genshin is very meme-worthy. Just a glance at a character’s face or a note of the melody, can make players’ minds explode with memories and emotions. Those experiences stick with you. So, Genshin content that spreads across the internet has more mindshare value (more likely to be remembered and engaged with).
Sure, there are countless other games that can do the same—or even better. Think about the ones from your childhood.
The Network Effect of a Single-Player Game
Genshin’s network effect isn’t in the game. It’s the community. It’s fan art, discussions, theories. It lives outside the screen, amplifying itself. It’s a single-player game with a multiplayer reach.