Honkai: Star Rail’s Aventurine causes a run on aventurine stones in China

HoYoverse

Outlets that sell aventurine stones in China have been scratching their heads about a sudden rise in sales as well as interest in small accessories like dice carved from the material – and players of Honkai: Star Rail appear to be behind the phenomenon. According to Chinese site JFDaily, aventurine sales have been skyrocketing since April 2024, just a few days after the launch of Honkai: Star Rail 2.1 which not only brought a character called Aventurine to the game as a playable figure, but also featured him in a very prominent role in the current storyline.

Aventurine is named after the gem stone of the same name, which has a part in the story as well – his aventurine stone is one of the powerful Cornerstones of the IPC, which have the might of a god-like Aeon imbued within them. Over the course of the story, the smuggling of a Cornerstone into the world of Penacony plays a critical role and at the climax of the current arc, Aventurine is using his stone to power himself up for a boss fight.

Being an avid gambler and prominently associated with dice, it’s no wonder that fans are opting to purchase dice-shaped accessories made from aventurine after being inspired by his tragic rags to riches story.

Aventurine has proven to be immensely popular. / HoYoverse

Some shopkeepers apparently had to appeal to customers to buy more reasonable numbers of aventurine so as to not empty their entire stocks at once. Generally, the stone is regarded as a more affordable alternative to the premium material of jade, so luckily there’s plenty to go around. A few quick-witted sellers have even started to engrave some quotes from the game on stones to attract Honkai: Star Rail fans.

Chinese fans have found other ways to express their love for HoYoverse’s characters as well – one group adopted 100 trees in a natural reclamation project in Aventurine’s name, others have bought spaces on digital billboards to display messages of affection.

Previously released character Acheron has one ardent admirer who streamed himself pulling for 100 copies of her signature Light Cone, costing him thousands of dollars.