miHoYo’s latest smash hit, Honkai: Star Rail, has raced past $500 million in cumulative sales.
The turn-based RPG has proven to be a massive success, made all the more notable when we consider that, unlike predecessor Genshin Impact, the game was only released on mobile and PC on day one, with a PS5 release scheduled for Q4 2023.
China has proven to be a particularly lucrative market for the game, generating a massive 41.1% of revenue. This was followed by Japan (23.9%), the USA (12%), and South Korea (7%).
However, Japan led the way in terms of revenue from download commissions (RPD), with $60. This was followed by China ($41), South Korea ($37) and the USA ($17).
Shooting for the stars
The game was a strong performer in numerous major Asian markets. The game ranked third in sales in China and Japan, and fourth in South Korea with sales of $34 million. Notably, Honkai: Star Rail is the only mobile game in Korea’s top five that isn’t an MMORPG. According to Sensor Tower’s analysis, reviews from players highlight the game’s storyline, engaging characters, and the thorough localisation as reasons for its popularity.
Sensor Tower also notes the game’s success in attracting early players in Korea was due to several factors. This includes the Galaxy Train Global Tour event held in Seoul on April 29, as well as the high share of voice (SOV) the company saw in its online advertising efforts, ranking number one on AppLovin’s ad network and number two on Youtube’s.
Further updates, such as the introduction of new characters and fields on July 19, also led to a significant boost in sales performance, pushing the game to the number one slot in South Korea and China’s revenue rankings, as well as second in Japan and fifth in the USA.
Honkai: Star Rail has also pushed miHoYo up in the global game publisher sales rankings, with the company climbing from fifth place to second place.
We listed miHoYo as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be revealing our list for 2023 at Gamescom on August 2022.
