Genshin Impact developer miHoYo generated more profit in 2022 than Activision Blizzard, EA, and Embracer
miHoYo is a private company, so it doesn’t have to release financial statements. However, Chinese media recently disclosed some information about the Genshin Impact developer’s revenue and profit.
According to state-owned newspaper Guangming Daily (the article was first spotted on Reddit), miHoYo reached 27.34 billion yuan ($3.83 billion) in revenue last year. Its net income (profit) was 16.145 billion yuan ($2.26 billion).
Here is how these figures compare with the financial results of some major Western game publishers and developers (revenues and profits are taken from their latest annual reports):
- Activision Blizzard (FY22 ended December 31, 2022) — net revenue of $7.52 billion / net income of $1.51 billion;
- Electronic Arts (FY23 ended March 31, 2023) — net revenue of $7.42 billion / net income of $802 million;
- Embracer Group (FY22/23 ended March 31, 2023) — net sales of $3.52 billion / net profit of $417 million;
- Take-Two (FY23 ended March 31, 2023) — net revenue of $5.35 billion / net loss of $1.12 billion;
- Ubisoft (FY22-23 ended March 31, 2023) — revenue of $1.95 billion / net loss of $532.2 million.
Taking this data into account, miHoYo’s annual profit for 2022 was higher than any of the companies mentioned above. However, it is worth noting that Take-Two, Activision Blizzard, and EA recorded higher revenues.
Of course, miHoYo is still behind Chinese tech giants like Tencent or NetEase, but those companies run huge businesses that go beyond video games and operate way more products. For example, Tencent’s gaming division reached 123.9 billion yuan ($17.3 billion) in revenue last year, and NetEase generated 74.5 billion yuan ($10.8 billion) from video games and related services in FY22.
The key to miHoYo’s success is Genshin Impact, a global hit game that has already surpassed $4 billion in lifetime revenue on mobile alone. On top of that, the company recently launched its new title, Honkai: Star Rail, which generated over $130 million on iOS and Android in its first month.
It is also worth noting that the three founders of miHoYo, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao, are among the top 500 richest people in China with a combined net worth of over $16 billion.
