- Zenless Zone Zero has surpassed $150 million
- The milestone has taken longer to reach than it did for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail
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HoYoverse’s latest action RPG Zenless Zone Zero has surpassed $150 million in gross mobile revenue in less than three months since launch.
The milestone marks yet another accomplishment for the Genshin Impact developer, although achieved more slowly than its flagship and Honkai: Star Rail, with all signs pointing to cannibalisation between titles.
Slow and steady
Zenless Zone Zero has generated a total $157.5 million to date by AppMagic estimates, which include revenue from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. The true total is likely much higher, therefore, when considering third-party app stores in addition to PC and PS5 audiences.
Even so, Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail each achieved $150 million in their first three weeks on Apple’s App Store and Google Play, at almost quadruple the speed of Zenless Zone Zero.
By their three-month anniversaries, they had already generated $572.1 million and $498.4 million respectively.
In this context, Zenless Zone Zero’s $157.5 million suddenly sounds much less significant, although still a major milestone in its own right – particularly in a time when the RPG genre as a whole is flagging and player spending in Asia is on the decline.
After all, HoYoverse relies on a significant portion of its revenue from the Asian market, as China and Japan comprise the dev’s two most lucrative mobile audiences across all three games.
Regional significance
In Zenless Zone Zero’s case, China and Japan account for 34% of player spending, while the US has contributed only 10% of mobile earnings, ranking third. Japan’s share of spending has grown over time too, up from 27% in Zenless Zone Zero’s early weeks, meanwhile China’s spending has dropped down from 47%.
China’s lead has sustained in Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, plainly those games’ most lucrative market, whereas this shift to Japan is being observed with the latest RPG.
After generating unprecedented hype in the buildup to launch, Zenless Zone Zero has evidently been a smaller success than its forebears thus far.
It lands in a strong position amongst this year’s new mobile releases, with more than double the revenue of Supercell’s Squad Busters, but has fallen short of the likes of Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile’s $800 million to date, which has proven there’s still room for new, breakout games in 2024.
Of course, when HoYoverse has three massive RPGs on the mobile market, cannibalisation between its titles may well be preferred over fans moving away to other developers instead, even if that means more moderate success per game.
