When I learned that Microsoft attempted to make Genshin Impact an Xbox system exclusive, I was just a few years old. According to reports, one of the main reasons the publisher is attempting to strike agreements with Chinese gaming studios is because of its failure to do so.
Reuters claims that Microsoft had discussions with HoYoverse, the creator of Genshin, when the game was still in its early stages of development. The two businesses, though, were unable to agree on a contract. In September 2020, the game eventually became accessible on PC, mobile devices, and PlayStation, but not Xbox. The game generated an estimated $3 billion in microtransaction revenue on mobile as of May. So it's safe to infer that it has also generated considerable profits from PlayStation.
What is Genshin Impact
Action role-playing game Genshin Impact was created and released by miHoYo. In 2020, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, iOS, and Android. In 2021, it was released for PlayStation 5, and a Nintendo Switch release is planned. The game has an open world with an anime-inspired aesthetic and an action-based battle system that employs elemental magic and character switching. The game is free to play and is supported by in-game purchases that allow users to unlock new characters and weaponry. The games as a service model is used to frequently add new content to the basic game through patches.
The fictional setting of Teyvat, where Genshin Impact is set, is home to seven nations, each of which is associated with a different element and ruled by a different god. The Traveler is a character in the novel who, before becoming separated from their twin sibling in Teyvat, traveled to innumerable worlds. Along with their companion Paimon, The Traveler sets out in search of the missing brother and gets entangled in the politics of Teyvat's countries.
Genshin Impact's development started in 2017. The game garnered generally favorable reviews; however, several commentators criticized the game's overly straightforward conclusion and monetization strategy while praising its combat systems and immersive open environment. Its first-year launch revenue of more over $3 billion was the biggest of any video game, and as of March 2022, its revenue stood at more than $4 billion.
Gameplay of Genshin Impact
A party of four interchangeable characters can be controlled by the player in the open-world action role-playing game Genshin Impact. During fight, switching between characters is quick and gives the player the option to use a variety of skills and attacks. Characters can have their strengths improved in a variety of ways, including by leveling up and by upgrading their items and weapons. The player can take on several challenges for prizes in addition to exploration.
Bosses and challenges that offer extremely valuable resources, such as Stormterror and the Electro Hypostasis, are dispersed throughout Teyvat, but taking them requires resin, a resource that depletes over time and slowly regenerates. The player advances toward raising their Adventure Rank by completing these challenges, which opens up additional quests, challenges, and raises the World Level. The World Level is a gauge for the difficulty of the world's opponents and the rarity of rewards that come with their destruction.
Stamina limits the player's ability to manage their character while engaging in activities like running, climbing, swimming, and gliding. Some characters can change the environment, for example, by freezing water to form an ice path that helps the player move through terrain. Players can warp to teleportation nodes all across the environment for quick travel, including Statues of The Seven, which have the ability to heal and revive characters as well as grant advantages like boosting player stamina.
Food and ore can be found in the open world, and adversaries and treasure chests can occasionally drop other resources that can be used to strengthen a character. Food can be acquired by players by animal hunting, foraging for fruits and vegetables, or shopping for it.
Additionally, there are unique battle situations called Domains that grant resources that boost character and weapon strength as well. Meals that can be prepared with ingredients that replenish health or increase a character's stats. Additionally, players have access to ore that may be refined and used to make weapons or increase their strength.
The combat abilities of each character are an elemental talent and an elemental burst. With the exception of the cooldown period immediately following use, the Elemental Skill can be utilized whenever you want. In contrast, the Elemental Burst bears a cost in energy, necessitating the user to gather enough elemental energy through enemy defeat or the use of elemental status effects. Cryo, Dendro, Pyro, Hydro, Anemo, Electro, and Geo, which stand for ice, plants, fire, water, wind, electricity, and rock, respectively, are the seven natural elements that each character may control.
These elements can interact in a variety of ways; for instance, when a Hydro attack hits a target, the enemy will receive the "Wet" status effect, and when a Cryo assault hits them, they will receive the "Cryo" effect. The "Frozen" status effect, which combines these two status effects, prevents the target from acting for a short period of time or until the player causes enough physical damage to the foe. These elemental interactions can occur by switching between characters during fight and using those skills. In the overworld, some elemental skills might be necessary to complete puzzles.
Co-op is one of the various multiplayer game modes. In the overworld, up to four people can interact and join Domains. Requesting to connect with another player is one way to match players. The user will automatically be paired up with other players that want to accomplish the same goal if they want to clear a Domain with other players. Players from different platforms can play together in the game thanks to cross-platform functionality.
The player can initially unlock four more playable characters by performing objectives that advance the plot, and additional characters can be acquired through a gacha feature and in-game events. Characters and weapons can be obtained through the gacha system using a variety of premium in-game currency that can be acquired through in-app purchases and game play. After a predetermined amount of draws, a pity mechanism ensures that the player will acquire uncommon stuff.
Microsoft Wants Its Own Genshin Impact
As one of Reuters' sources put it, "Microsoft lamented missing out on Genshin Impact." Because of the game's success on PlayStation, Microsoft feels "a sense of urgency" to buy Chinese games. Microsoft is attempting to sign other significant independent studios in China while they still lack publishers since it missed the Genshin money train. The fact that many Chinese developers are skilled at implementing cross-platform and multiplayer play is one of the attractions.
These games would be a huge help to publishers that are trying to get more people to sign up for their subscription services, which let customers play games for a set monthly price on PC, Xbox, and occasionally cloud gaming platforms (95 percent of Chinese games are free-to-play). I didn't think it would be a huge thing to be able to play games on my phone, computer, and console. However, it has gradually motivated me to spend more time in Genshin than I would have otherwise.
For years, PlayStation has been lagging behind Xbox in terms of live service capabilities; HoYoverse's RPG was a big asset to its library. Genshin, along with Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Apex Legends, were among the top games driving PS Store spending, according to Sony's May financial report. Genshin is therefore not only earning an astounding sum of money overall, but its system exclusivity is also one of the primary factors in PlayStation's success.
Chinese studios aren't just apathetically accepting whatever is handed to them; instead, they are actively competing with the main console manufacturers for these titles. According to reports, one business that previously agreed to a contract with Game Pass is delaying the signing of a new exclusive agreement while its game is still being developed.
