As HoYoverse grows, so does its ambition beyond gaming

Studio is not just transitioning into a global brand

HoYoverse

HoYoverse is a name in gaming you can’t escape these days and with the impending release of Zenless Zone Zero the Chinese developer is once again increasing its global footprint in an effort to become a household name akin to other iconic studios everyone can name off the top of their head. However, that ambition goes further still – it’s a drive that aims beyond “simply gaming,” as the company’s president of global publishing and operations, Wenyi Jin, said at a press tour in Singapore.

Then again, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that a company taking “Tech Otakus Save the World” as an official motto for itself would be grasping for the stars. HoYoverse has now established five global offices on top of its home base in China and it’s not just making video games there – what HoYoverse sees itself as is a full-blown technology company with research projects that all have the goal of improving the experiences of players even further.

We can see some of the early fruits of this in the newest update for Honkai: Star Rail, where guides for characters sourced from HoYoWiki are displayed now – which itself is part of HoYoLaB, the self-made social media/community site/companion app HoYoverse is operating. Player-sourced build data is finding more and more use in both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail to ease the player experience.

Wenyi Jin presented an update on HoYoverse's current status and its efforts to become a more globalized company. / HoYoverse

One can also point, of course, to the massive success the company is having with HOYO-MiX, its music-focused branch: It’s not just producing one banger soundtrack after another for all the studio’s games – online and offline concerts all over the world have been organized by them with tickets usually selling out in a matter of minutes.

Efforts like HoYoCreators, HoYoFair, and HoYoFest, which are all community-focused, may only seem like marketing tools, but do have other uses: HoYoverse is always hungry for talents and competent community members submitting their projects – be they music, animations, or other things – may find an opportunity to work for the studio waiting on the other end. Chevy, the singer behind the lovely lyrics of galactic superstar Robin, was scouted for the role thanks to the music she submitted to one such community event.

With time, we’ll get to see more of the projects not directly related to HoYoverse’s games, but all the efforts centered on nurturing a healthy community have already paid off: Wenyi Jin presented a number of 65 million social media followers across all channels for the studio’s games with all of its YouTube channels having garnered a mind-boggling 3.18 billion views in total.

If HoYoverse’s tech ventures are even just half as effective, players are in for an exciting ride.

Make sure to check out our interview with Zhenyu Li, the producer of Zenless Zone Zero, for more insights into the new game as well as the changes going on at HoYoverse.