MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact has seen quite a bit of success since it launched last week. Already it’s been reported that the game had the biggest global launch of any Chinese game with over 21 million pre-registrations across PC, PS4, and mobile devices. Now it seems more information about this record is coming to light, as it’s been announced that the game has accrued over 17 million downloads on the mobile version alone.
This information about Genshin Impact’s successful mobile launch comes via App Annie on Twitter. App Annie is a site that specializes in the statistics and analysis of various apps on mobile devices. The fact that Genshin Impact achieved 17 million downloads on mobile in its first four days was App Annie’s stat of the day.
This stat may not be surprising to some gamers. Not only are mobile devices more widely available across the world than gaming PC’s and PS4’s, but the free-to-play open world RPG has a wide variety of quests to complete and unique characters to recruit for their party, which could be incredibly appealing for players looking to take their gaming on the go.
Genshin Impact’s popularity is also aided by its crossplay and cross-progression mechanics. Players are able to take on the world of Teyvat in a full co-op experience on whichever platform they prefer, provided that they are on the same server. Cross progression is a little more complicated, as PC and mobile are compatible with cross progression but PS4 is not. So by downloading Genshin Impact on mobile, PC players have even more opportunities to enjoy the game.
However, this news could be the beginning of something a little more ominous. Although Genshin Impact is a free to play game, developer miHoYo makes its money on the game through a gacha system. This system could be closely compared to a lootbox, where players spend in-game or real currency on a chance to pull powerful characters and weapons. Knowing that Genshin Impact has been downloaded so many times on mobile devices could be a sign of overspending on these pulls in the near future.
That being said, players seem to be loving their time with Genshin Impact. With its tight multiplayer experience as well as beautiful art and music, players might be hard pressed to find things they don’t like about the game. And with a Nintendo Switch version currently in development, it looks as though Genshin Impact has a long life ahead of it.
Genshin Impact is available now on PC, PS4, and mobile devices.
