Free-to-play games are a large part of the gaming industry, and this genre is also prevalent on mobile devices. With a model encouraging players to purchase microtransactions, free-to-play games on mobile devices are also popular for generating high revenue.
Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail are examples of top-rated games on the platform, and the developer’s latest fiscal year report highlights their ongoing success.
According to a report, HoYoverse made $2.27 billion in profits during the last fiscal year, significantly higher than PlayStation’s $1.84 billion.
Why it matters: The difference between profits highlights the success of live-service games. Games like Genshin Impact provide regular updates, encouraging users to spend on microtransactions.
The highly popular Genshin Impact is a free-to-play title, but it continues to be a great source of profits for the developer.
A game like Genshin Impact comes with the mechanic to summon characters. This allows players to summon different characters of their liking, and limited-time events also encourage players to summon new additions.
Summoning requires currency that can be earned in-game, but players purchasing microtransactions are usually at an advantage in such scenarios. Therefore, it should not be surprising that HoYoverse made such impressive profits last fiscal year.
On the other hand, PlayStation’s model relies on upfront costs like consoles and game purchases. The gaming giant also offers different tiers of subscriptions, leading to equally impressive figures.
While PlayStation reported a profit of $1.84 billion, this figure declined year over year. Therefore, PlayStation is looking to invest in live-service games to ensure a continuous revenue stream.
The gaming giant has acquired Bungie and aims to use the studio’s expertise for live-service endeavors. PlayStation is also looking to use live-service games to increase its user base on PC.
Developer Hoyoverse also offers Genshin Impact on PlayStation consoles, and Honkai Star Rail will join the platform in 2023.
Nonetheless, the large gap in revenues highlights the importance of live-service games. While PlayStation has always been known for single-player offerings, this could change in the coming years.
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