Genshin Impact Developer's Ambitious 2030 Goal Leaks

Summary

HoYoverse is reportedly working on creating a gigantic virtual world that's "more real than reality."
The mysterious project is planned to launch by 2030, according to a leaked employee manual.
In the meantime, HoYoverse is reportedly developing several new "open-world and farming-simulation" games.

Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse aims to build a massive virtual world that's "more real than reality" by 2030. That's according to some newly leaked company materials in which HoYoverse insists that it's not a video game company.

Formerly known as Mihoyo—a name that's still used by its Chinese headquarters—HoYoverse is best known as the developer of Genshin Impact, a gacha open-world RPG that made over $6 billion in lifetime revenue on mobile platforms alone. Since launching Genshin Impact in 2020, the Shanghai-based company released two more live-service games—Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero.

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As for what's next for HoYoverse, the company has apparently set its sights on more than just games. Bloomberg reports that the group's current goal is to create a gigantic virtual world by 2030, citing a leaked copy of a HoYoverse employee manual. This virtual space is described as "more real than reality," as per the same source. Given this language and the stated timeline, HoYoverse may be exploring the development of a metaverse—potentially one rooted in virtual reality.

HoYoverse Reportedly Doesn't See Itself as a Game Company

The likelihood that HoYoverse’s 2030 project is not another video game seems even greater given that the leaked employee manual insists the company is not simply a game developer. "We have never been a game company," the document states, as per Bloomberg. Looking to drive that point home, the manual compares HoYoverse to tech innovators such as Apple and SpaceX. However, the true nature of the virtual world that HoYoverse is supposedly building is left ambiguous. HoYoverse declined to comment on Bloomberg's story beyond stating that it contains some inaccuracies, without elaborating on what those may be.

We have never been a game company.

HoYoverse Is Reportedly Seeking New Audiences

While HoYoverse's long-term ambitions may extend beyond gaming, the company remains firmly focused on video games for now. It’s currently said to be developing several titles described as “open-world and farming-simulator” games. Its upcoming projects are understood to be a conscious departure from the anime RPGs that HoYoverse is known for, with the studio looking to leverage them to find new audiences. The developer is reportedly pursuing this direction as part of a strategic pivot prompted by a recurring issue: its new anime games often cannibalize older ones, an undesirable outcome for a company reliant on long-lasting live-service titles.

According to a recent leak, one of HoYoverse's upcoming games is called Honkai: Nexus Anima. The project is rumored to offer a combination of RPG and Pokemon-like monster-taming mechanics. It's still expected to incorporate the gacha elements permeating all of HoYoverse's modern games.

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