Genshin Impact at Six: Version 7.0, a PS4 Goodbye and $6 Billion
It paid back its budget in two weeks and has not stopped since. Six years after launch, Genshin Impact has left PS4, moved into Nod-Krai and reached version 7.0. What has changed, and what still keeps tens of millions of people coming back.
When Genshin Impact launched on 28 September 2020, plenty of critics expected a flashy flash in the pan. Two weeks later it had earned more than $100 million, enough to repay a development and marketing budget of roughly that size. Six years on, it is still here, still updating every few weeks, and still one of the games that defines what a free-to-play hit looks like.
The game marked its sixth anniversary in September 2026. It reached version 7.0 in August, ended support on PlayStation 4 in April, and by most estimates still draws tens of millions of players a month. Here is how Genshin got to six, and how it has changed along the way.
The numbers that made Genshin a legend
Genshin's early sales are still quoted at industry conferences. In its first week, it saw about 23 million mobile downloads. By October 2020 it was the highest-grossing mobile game in the world, and by the end of March 2021 it had passed $1 billion on mobile alone, behind only Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile. At its first anniversary, mobile revenue had reached about $2 billion.
Analytics estimates put its total revenue at around $6.3 billion by its fourth anniversary in 2024. And it is not just money: estimates for 2025 put its monthly player base at around 57 million.
Six years of Teyvat
Genshin's structure has stayed remarkably steady. Every major version adds story chapters, events and new characters, and roughly once a year the game opens a new nation of Teyvat: Mondstadt and Liyue at launch, then Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine and Natlan.
The sixth year brought the biggest shift in a while. Version 6.0, nicknamed "Luna I", opened the northern region of Nod-Krai in September 2025, marking a new naming scheme for updates. In October 2025, "Luna II" added Miliastra Wonderland, a new mode with its own mini-games and creative tools that pushed Genshin towards being a social platform as well as an adventure.
Then came version 7.0 in August 2026, launched alongside a collaboration with the anime streaming service Crunchyroll from 12 August.
Where you can play it, and where you cannot
Genshin's platform list has shifted with time:
- Phones and PC: available since day one, with cross-save between them.
- PlayStation 5: a dedicated version since 28 April 2021.
- Xbox Series X|S: added on 20 November 2024.
- HarmonyOS: a native version for Huawei's operating system launched in China in September 2025.
- PlayStation 4: removed from sale in September 2025, in-game purchases ended in February 2026 and support ended on 8 April 2026.
That PS4 goodbye is a sign of age. A game designed in 2019 to run on a 2013 console has grown beyond it.
The growing pains
Not everything has been smooth. Sensor Tower's rankings show the game slipping in some months: in January 2026 it missed the top ten of the month's highest-grossing mobile games, a spot it once owned. Rival anime open-world games from Kuro Games (our story), Infold (our story) and HoYoverse's own newer titles now compete for the same players' time and money.
The English voice cast also changed. During the 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game strike, several English actors stopped recording, and some roles were recast. Even Paimon, the floating companion, now has a new English voice: Penelope Rawlins took over from Corinna Boettger.
And in 2025, the publisher agreed to a $20 million settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over loot box sales to teens and odds disclosure, which we cover in our gacha law explainer.
Why it matters
Six years is a long time for any game, and an eternity for one that runs on phones. Genshin's real legacy is not its revenue but its template: a huge world on every device, a steady cadence of story, and characters people care about enough to cosplay. Almost every big anime-style game since has been measured against it.
Our take: Genshin is no longer the shock it was in 2020, and that is fine. It has become something rarer, a reliable world that keeps adding to itself. For newcomers, the opening chapters remain one of the best free adventures on any platform. For our full look at the studio, read our HoYoverse feature.