Microsoft ‘wants its own Genshin Impact-like game’ for Xbox

Microsoft is looking for its own Genshin Impact-like game in order to appeal more to the Chinese market, according to a new report.

Reuters notes that the company is accelerating plans to find an equivalent title to the action role-playing game, which has seen over four billion dollars of revenue in two years for Shanghai studio miHoYo.

Genshin Impact, an anime-style open-world game, is monetized through gacha mechanics, in which players pay for the chance to earn special characters they can then use in-game.

Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at researcher Niko Partners told Reuters that “Chinese game developers are trying to standardize their development tools, create advanced production processes, invest in really large-scale teams.”

“Ultimately, that helps provide them with the competitive edge to reach a broad audience both in terms of the geography and platforms.”

Reuters claims that sources indicate to them that Microsoft is scouting the Chinese markets for new developers it could bring into the fold. The company is also allegedly “wooing even independent studios with big-money offers.”

While Sony doesn’t own the Genshin Impact IP, it did partner with developer miHoYo early in the game’s development and assisted in bringing it to market. The game is on PC and mobile devices, although the console version of the game is exclusively on PlayStation.

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It is understood the game makes the majority of its money on mobile platforms, but the game is regularly at the top of the most played free-to-play games on PlayStation.

According to Reuters sources, Microsoft “regrets” missing out on Genshin, and had briefly spoken to miHoYo when Genshin was being developed, but talks fell through.

“Picking up Genshin Impact made Sony a lot of money,” according to a Reuters source, who declined to be identified because the information was not public.