miHoYo
 | |
Native name | 米哈游网络科技股份有限公司 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | February 13, 2012 |
| Founders | Cai Haoyu Liu Wei Luo Yuhao |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Liu Wei (CEO, Director and Co-Founder) Cai Haoyu (President, Chairman & Co-Founder) |
| Products | Honkai Academy 2 Honkai Impact 3rd Genshin Impact Tears of Themis |
| Total assets | $249 million |
Number of employees | 2400 (2021) |
| Website | www |
miHoYo Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 米哈游网络科技股份有限公司; pinyin: mǐhāyóu wǎngluò kējì gǔfèn yǒuxiàn gōngsī) is a Chinese video game development and animation studio based in Shanghai, China. Founded in 2012 by three students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, miHoYo currently employs 2,400 people.[1][2]
The company is the creator of Genshin Impact, an open-world action role-playing game released in 2020, and one of the highest grossing mobile games. miHoYo has also developed the games Honkai Academy 2 [3] and Honkai Impact 3rd.
miHoYo additionally operates under two other companies - Shanghai miHoYo Phantom Iron Technology Company Limited (Chinese: 上海米哈游影铁科技有限公司), which manages their websites, advertising, publication, licensing, telecommunications, etc. and Shanghai miHoYo Schizo Technology Company Limited (Chinese: 上海米哈游天命科技有限公司). Both of these company names are references to their own game, Honkai Impact 3rd.[4]
The controlling shareholder, actual controller, Chairman and President of miHoYo is Cai Haoyu, the Director and CEO is Liu Wei, and the vice president is Luo Yuhao.[1][5]
History
The company was founded in 2012 by three students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who decided to develop games based on their love of anime. A year prior, the students had developed FlyMe2TheMoon.
The three founders of miHoYo, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao are classmates of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In February 2012, three students who were still students and another classmate Jin Zhicheng jointly funded the establishment of miHoYo. But one month after the company was founded, Jin Zhicheng quit the company because he got an offer from Cisco China. After several years of development, in the first half of 2017, miHoYo achieved a net profit of 440 million RMB.[1] Currently, the controlling shareholder and actual controller identified by miHoYo is Cai Haoyu, who directly or indirectly controls 41.72% of the company's shares. The other two founders, Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao, are the company's second and third largest shareholders, respectively, and they directly or indirectly control 44.78% of the company's shares. All three are company directors. In early 2018, CK Hutchison Holdings bought a 3.3% stake in miHoYo, and then increased its holdings to 5.28% in early 2019.[6]
Their first notable title was Guns Girl Z (then renamed to Honkai Academy 2), released in 2014.[7] Since then, they have seen success releasing anime-style games that primarily appealed to mobile gamers. The majority of their early titles were successful within Asia, however they would not reach global success until the release of Honkai Impact 3rd.[8]
Their most popular game is Genshin Impact, released in September 2020.[9]
Their most recent game is Tears of Themis, released world-wide in July 2021,[10] but has been available in China since 2020.
miHoYo got an official promotion to a party committee on the 24th of September 2021.[11]
Controversies
In April 2021, police in Shanghai arrested a man who reportedly planned to assassinate miHoYo's founders. He was said to have been upset about changes to the game Honkai Impact 3rd. This came after miHoYo experienced a backlash by some Chinese fans who were angry that the global version of the game received an exclusive bunny girl & gambling-themed music video and game story as part of a collaboration with MYTH & ROID but not the Chinese version of the game; they considered this disrespectful to Chinese players since the content is not playable in the Chinese servers, despite all the past contents from Chinese servers being available on the global version. Due to the event being an anniversary event for the global version of the game, and not for the Chinese version of the game, the event was made to be exclusive. miHoYo subsequently issued a public apology and removed the music video from their YouTube channel.[12]
Games developed
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2011 | FlyMe2theMoon[13] |
| 2012 | Zombiegal Kawaii |
| 2014 | Honkai Academy 2 |
| 2016 | Honkai Impact 3rd |
| 2020 | Tears of Themis |
| 2020 | Genshin Impact |
| TBA | Honkai: Star Rail |
References
- ^ a b c "《原神》日均吸金超600万美元 开发者米哈游会再谋上市吗？" [Genshin Impact's average daily earnings is more than $6 million, will its developer miHoYo seek another opportunity to be listed on the market?]. Securities Times (in Chinese). Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ Huang, Zheping (February 23, 2021). "Hit Game Genshin Impact Helps Chinese Studio Double Its Sales". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
- ^ Chinese: 崩坏学园2; lit. 'Honkai Academy 2'; formerly known as Guns Girl Z
- ^ "关于公示2021-2022年度国家文化出口重点企业和重点项目名单的通知（项目第49项）" [Notice on the Announcement of the List of Key National Cultural Export Enterprises and Key Projects for 2021-2022 (Item No. 49)]. www.mofcom.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China. July 28, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- ^ Ye, Josh (October 13, 2020). "How Genshin Impact's Chinese creators built its success on otaku love". South China Morning Post. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ^ "一款游戏独撑业绩，涉黄、无证经营遭罚，米哈游IPO要"崩坏"？" (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ Ye, Josh (October 13, 2020). "How Genshin Impact's Chinese creator miHoYo found success with otakus willing to 'pay for love'". The Star. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Ye, Josh (December 5, 2018). "This hit anime schoolgirl game looks Japanese, but it's from China". South China Morning Post. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Huang, Zheping (November 6, 2020). "China's Genshin Impact Is Racking Up Big Sales". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ "Tears of Themis English Release Date Set for the End of July 2021". Siliconera. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ "中国共产党上海米哈游网络科技股份有限公司委员会党员大会顺利召开！" (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; September 25, 2021 suggested (help) - ^ "Man Arrested For Allegedly Attempting To Assassinate Genshin Impact Studio Founders". GameSpot. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ Hestad, Ben (October 9, 2020). "Who Exactly is Genshin Impact Developer miHoYo?". Gamezo. Retrieved November 19, 2020.