Here’s How Genshin Impact Is A Cash-Cow For Other Honkai Projects

Genshin Impact was an enormous success when it was first released in 2020, with its revenues rising up the charts and its booming success spreading throughout the Western media. I was first introduced to Genshin Impact in early 2021 when I saw an AD of Eula climbing one of the cathedrals in Mondstadt, and I instantly got hooked on the game. 

As the success increased, Hoyoverse re-invested that revenue into making newer titles, namely Honkai Star Rail, and newer updates for Honkai Impact 3rd. It seems as if Genshin is nothing but a cash cow to help fund Honkai updates and future projects, and I aim to tell you just why that is.  

Honkai Has Always Been The True End-Game

It is no secret that Genshin’s endgame is lackluster. The game has been out for nearly four years at this point, and there has been little new end-game content recently. 

The Abyss is the only dying end-game content available. In it, two teams of four characters each take you through floors 9-12 of the abyss, with each floor increasing in difficulty. While the abyss was a fun way for me to try out my new characters and test their builds, it got old really quickly as there was nothing new to do. 

Meanwhile, Honkai Star Rail has done an absolutely brilliant job keeping the end-game going. With content such as Simulated Universe that keeps refreshing every week, it provides jades as well as relic rewards. 

Apart from that, the Memory of Chaos is basically the abyss version of Honkai Star Rail, and it refreshes with Pure Fiction. All three game modes come together to create engaging end-game content, allow me to try out my characters and their builds, and make me look forward to the rewards refreshing every week. 

Meanwhile, Honkai Impact 3rd takes on a different route towards its end-game content. If you want to survive in its end-game, you basically need to have Valkyries that are up-to-date, with its five-star stigmata, as well as its weapons. 

Genshin Impact Events Are Not Replayable 

 Genshin is notorious for releasing events that are absolutely detrimental to the main storyline and cover character lores. Personal examples include the Albedo event that would come out in the December months of 2020 and 2021, as well as the Windtrace event. The events do rerun every year, but if players end up missing out on these events, then they basically need to catch up themselves through YouTube, and it’s a major setback as they aren’t able to experience it for themselves. 

On the other hand, if you play Honkai Star Rail, while they did not have the option to replay events in the earlier versions, such as 1.1 or 1.2, they listened to player feedback and started to add replayable content. This not only helped players revisit old events and experience the story for themselves, but it also allowed them to farm jades that they might have missed out on before. 

Listening To Player Feedback Seems Like A Pain For Hoyo 

Apart from this, it seems that listening to player feedback, especially when it comes to Genshin Impact, remains a pain for Hoyoverse. I personally have been recommending better end-game content, an artifact loadout system, and the ability to mark nation-based specialties for years now, but to no avail. 

Take the example of Artifact loadout, which players have been asking for years. Hoyo recently added a “custom loadout” system, which allows the game to automatically pick and choose artifacts after selecting the required main stats and sub-stats. 

However, they managed to execute it in the most tedious way that they could think of. The player basically needs to manually choose the main and sub-stats. After that, the system selects the stats, but get this: It resets automatically once you’re done. What’s the point?  

The players asked for an efficient, customized artifact loadout system, which Hoyo couldn’t even deliver. 

Too Much Anniversary Drama And For What?

Let’s just not forget the never-ending drama that comes with being part of the Genshin fandom, especially when the anniversary rolls around. The first anniversary was an absolute mess, where Hoyoverse was practically bullied into giving players extra primogems and wings, and the same happened for this year when the rewards were insanely lackluster. 

On the other hand, Honkai Star Rail does incredible with its reward system. Not just when it comes to the anniversary, but the fact that they managed to give a five-star limited character for free without even announcing it was insane. 

Takeaway

It’s very clear that Hoyo prioritizes the Honkai Series in terms of end-game content, rewards, better characters, game optimization, and general QOL changes, while Genshin seems to lag. 

It is speculated that it somehow managed to earn a bank for Hoyovoerse, which further makes it an incentive to milk it for as long as possible to fund its other games. Can we hope for a significant change in Genshin over the coming years, or will it remain the same? This is a question that has yet to be answered.