HoYoverse’s next game Astaweave Haven among 105 Chinese approvals this July

• The title has been granted approval for PC and mobile versions and is among 105 video games granted licences in China this month
• Astaweave Haven appears to be HoYoverse’s “XinBuGuDi” project that was registered for trademark in China back in February

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It hasn’t even been three weeks since Zenless Zone Zero released, and already HoYoverse has received a Chinese licence approval for its next new game: Astaweave Haven.

The title has been granted approval for PC and mobile versions, and is among 105 video games granted licences in China this month. As reported by South China Morning Post, these details are currently all that’s known for definite about Astaweave Haven.

Online speculations suggest the game may be a departure from the gacha and RPG genres HoYoverse has effectively conquered with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, and that it could instead be a life-sim, management-based game.

A game by many names

Astaweave Haven appears to be HoYoverse’s “XinBuGuDi” project that was registered for trademark in China back in February, translated roughly as “Star Cloth Valley”. Under its localised name for the first time, Astaweave Haven was later registered for trademark in Japan this June.

The application was made alongside “Hoshimi Haven”, suggesting this will be Astaweave Haven’s Japanese name. It translates roughly to “Looking at the Star Haven”.

While the astral language is evident across localisations, it is currently unknown whether this theme plays into game design. Of course, HoYoverse already has another astronomical hit in Honkai: Star Rail, which zoomed past $1 billion in gross revenue before its first anniversary.

Multiple approvals

This month, Tencent was also granted one of China’s 105 licence approvals, confirming its first-person shooter Arena: Breakout Infinite will launch on PC in the mainland market.

July has continued something of a turnaround from the start of the year when domestic approvals slipped month-on-month – from 115 in January to 111 in February, to 107 in March and only 95 in April. May began the bounceback with a marginal rise to 96, and June saw 104 approvals.

Including July, altogether this brings 2024’s total licence approvals to 628 thus far, down significantly from previous figures, but an improvement on recent years mired by a licence freeze and slow recovery.