Microsoft was slower to launch in China than Sony. In 2017, the Japanese company announced the “China Hero Project,” a gaming accelerator programme aimed at assisting Chinese creators in publishing games on the PlayStation. It has backed 17 titles, seven of which have made it to the market.
“We’ve been rather quiet for the previous two years. However, the programme is still going strong “Former China Hero Project manager Kuangyi Zhou told Reuters in April.
In 2019, Sony teamed with miHoYo, a little-known studio working on “Genshin Impact.” The game, which became a global hit a year later, is available for personal computers and portable devices, but the console version is only available on PlayStation.
According to two persons acquainted with the situation, Microsoft regrets missing out on “Genshin Impact.” It met with miHoYo early in the game’s development but did not strike an agreement, according to one of them. The other source stated that the experience is motivating Microsoft’s more aggressive pursuit of Chinese developers.
“Picking up ‘Genshin Impact’ made Sony a lot of money,” said the second person, who declined to be identified since the information was not public.
There is no official statistics on “Genshin Impact” console revenue, however Sensor Tower data from May estimated the sum at $3 billion for mobile devices.
EVOLUTION OF THE MARKET
