HoYoverse is in the Zone, winning Best Developer at Mobile Games Awards 2024
- 23 awards were handed out to winners across every games biz category
- HoYoverse won Best Developer thanks to three key titlesβ¦
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Last night at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, in celebration of mobile game makers everywhere, PocketGamer.biz played host to the great and the good from across the industry in a star-studded event, tailor-made to reward all the creators, makers, movers and shakers that make mobile happen.
Youβll find a full list of all the 23 winners from the awards here, but for now weβre focusing on the Best Developer Award, which went toβ¦
HoYoverse!
Making an impact
Between the launch of Zenless Zone Zero and growing Honkai: Star Rail intoΒ a billion-dollar maker, the past year has been a busy and productive one for HoYoverse. The studioβs games frequently top RPG and gacha charts with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail typically competing for first place; no matter which loses, HoYoverse wins.
And now with a trio of RPGs raking in the cash, HoYoverse is the gacha giant of the modern mobile landscape.
Genshin Impact is HoYoverseβs flagship and is the fastest game to ever hit $5 billion in consumer spending. Itβs found a home on mobile, PC, PlayStation, and soon Xbox too. This open-world gacha game is an undisputed mega-hit on the global stage, and in only a few years has sailed HoYoverse up among the top contenders in the Chinese publishing space.
The game even propelled HoYoverse beyond EA, Activision and Embracer Group in sheer profit – and that was before Honkai: Star Rail joined the ranks. It was the go-to choice for Apple when advertising the iPhone 15 Proβs capabilities and has had enough of a cultural impact to land an art exhibit in France.
Shining star
After the worldwide phenomenon that was and is Genshin Impact, many an industry eye watched and waited eagerly for Honkai: Star Rail to see if HoYoverse could repeat its past success. The studio ultimately proved to have the winning formula, with Star Rail racing to 20 million downloads on launch day and proceeding from strength to strength in the 16 months since.
Honkai: Star Rail has broken records, surpassed 100 million downloads, and accelerated well beyond its forebear in revenue this year – sometimes even doubling Genshin Impactβs consumer spending on mobile.
Thatβs surely enough to explain HoYoverseβs Best Developer Award, right?
But wait! Thereβs moreβ¦
Feeling zen
HoYoverseβs latest launch Zenless Zone Zero released this July and demonstrated player enthusiasm from the get-go, achieving pre-registration numbers thatΒ eclipsed Genshin Impactβs and Honkai: Star Railβs combined.
This translated to 50 million downloads within 72 hours of release, encouraging the dev team like never before. Released just over one year on from Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero mixes up the formula with more action to its RPG, a stronger emphasis on narrative, and an urban setting differentiating it from its predecessors.
Having built two pillars of the RPG genre with a third on the rise, it should be clear to all why HoYoverse claims Best Developer of 2024.
One last thingβ¦
Lilith Games and Supercell also deserve honourable mentions for their achievements in the mobile space, with respective releases AFK Journey and Squad Busters making waves and Supercellβs Brawl Stars making a sublime comeback this year.
