Recently, the project team of MiHoYo’s game “Genshin Impact” announced that it will cooperate with the well-known animation production company Ufotable to jointly produce an animated version. This marks that the game, which has been online for more than two years, is about to open a new chapter.
Ufotable is a well-known Japanese animation production company that has produced classic works such as “Demon Slayer”. The relevant person in charge of “Genshin Impact” said that the animation project will strictly follow the high-quality content of the game and is currently being produced in full swing.
In the latest issue of “Genshin Impact” sneak peek special, the animation concept video was officially exposed. The video has been viewed more than 4 million times on the Bilibili platform.
Animation production has a long production cycle and is resource-intensive. It is usually considered a high-investment, low-return project. Successful game adaptation animation projects are rare. Can “Genshin Impact” succeed with animation?
“MiHoYo’s goal for this animated series is not to make a profit, but that doesn’t mean it won’t make a profit. Ultimately, it depends on the scale of investment and business strategy,” said Liao Xuhua, senior analyst at Yuyan Research Institute under Qianbang Economic Daily. The return on investment of animated series is not necessarily low, but it may be difficult to make a profit from the series alone, but it is not impossible.
“Since its launch, Genshin Impact has earned more than $3 billion on Google Play and the App Store. After its global release, the game achieved its first $1 billion in mobile revenue in just 171 days, not including revenue from third-party Android stores. The next two $1 billion milestones took 195 days and 185 days respectively, which means that the game can earn about $1 billion every six months. This makes Genshin Impact one of the most successful mobile games in history.”
Can the box office revenue of Genshin Impact support the huge investment required for future animation production and distribution? Take the highly successful game-adapted animation League of Legends: Shadows of Arkania as an example. It took Riot Games six years from the project establishment in 2015 to the release in 2021, and it invested huge manpower, material resources and financial resources. According to foreign media reports, Riot Games spent $14.1 million on advertising for the animation Shadows of Arkania in October 2021. This fee is only part of the publicity and marketing costs, not including production costs. However, the animated series has proven to be a successful attempt for Riot Games. In the first month of its release, Shadows of Arkania topped the Netflix global charts and remained in the top ten for three consecutive weeks in 52 countries and regions. Its audience response on the Tomatometer has reached an astonishing 100% positive rating. After the animation was released in China, it also frequently appeared on the Weibo hot search list, and players praised it as “the pinnacle of game-adapted animation”, which also made League of Legends known to more players.
Liao Xuhua believes that compared with action games, role-playing games like Genshin Impact have stronger narrative and a more solid foundation for IP content creation, so it also provides more opportunities for adaptation.
This time, the animated version of Genshin Impact will no longer be produced by miHoYo independently, but in cooperation with Youku. Liao Xuhua told Qianbang Economic Daily that miHoYo is a game company, and there is overlap between games and animations, but they are essentially different production lines. In addition to miHoYo, most game animations in China are also produced by professional animation companies. He believes that what MiHoYo values ??most is Youku’s production capabilities.
Youku is a well-known game-adapted animation production company known for its high-quality works. Its animated film “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” grossed over $500 million worldwide in 2020, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. In addition to “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train”, Ufotable’s representative works also include “F