Crowds of Spectators at New Game Release by Chinese Company

HoyoVerse New Title 'ZZZ' Launch
Enhancing Brand Value with Korea-Friendly Policies
"Korean Market Very Important"

Chinese game company HoYoverse, which achieved global success with "Genshin Impact," attracted industry attention by holding a large-scale new game unveiling event. While Chinese game companies have previously held concerts related to games already on sale, this was the first time they gathered a large audience to reveal a new title. This is interpreted as an effort to capture the Korean market, which has emerged as a major revenue region, and to shed the negative perception users have about "Chinese games."

At the HoYoverse new game "Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ)" launch event recently held at Sebitseom on the Han River in Banpo-dong, Seoul, a huge crowd gathered. ZZZ is an action RPG set in the last city "New Eridu" in a world struck by the mysterious disaster called "The Collective." It received significant attention even before its release, with about 47 million global pre-registrations, and immediately after launch, it ranked first in the domestic Google Play popular games chart.

HoYoverse is increasing offline contact points with domestic users because the Korean market has become an indispensable revenue region. According to mobile market research firm Sensor Tower, the major overseas markets for Chinese games this year are the United States, Japan, and South Korea, accounting for 32.5%, 18.9%, and 8.2% market shares respectively. The Korean share is similar to the combined total of Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada (9.5%). HoYoverse's flagship game Genshin Impact recorded cumulative domestic revenue of about $290 million (377 billion KRW) by last year, which accounts for 6% of Genshin Impact's global revenue.

Hwang Ran, head of HoYoverse Korea, said, "HoYoverse regards the Korean market as very important. We have put a lot of effort into localization such as dubbing and content, and are planning many events that Korean users can participate in."

Unlike other Chinese game companies, HoYoverse has secured a dedicated fan base by holding offline events such as summer festivals and pop-up store openings. Notably, collaborations with domestic companies stand out. In April, they collaborated with the handmade pizza brand Pizza Alvolo to sell pizzas containing game merchandise, and last year, they partnered with Samsung Electronics to release a limited edition of 1,000 "Eunrang Editions" featuring characters from the game "Honkai: Star Rail" for the Galaxy S24+.

Industry insiders analyze HoYoverse's user-friendly approach as an attempt to break away from the negative perception of "Chinese game companies." In the domestic game market, Chinese games have developed a reputation for being "hit-and-run," quickly entering and exiting the market. Some Chinese games have drawn users' ire due to delayed updates and poor management policies, and have irresponsibly shut down services in less than a year.

An industry official said, "Although Chinese game companies have had development capabilities and high-quality IPs comparable to domestic companies, their brands were often undervalued simply because they were Chinese. HoYoverse and NetEase Games are representative cases," adding, "Recently, they have been striving to enhance brand value by promoting themselves as 'global game companies' instead of 'Chinese'."