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Years into Genshin Impact's life, gacha kingpin HoYoverse (or miHoYo, or sometimes Cognosphere) is still pursuing a plan to get 1 billion people into a virtual world of its own making within the next four years, affirming a more abstract idea first discussed in the early days of the company's post-Genshin boom.
Xin Ning, lead gameplay engineer on Genshin Impact's freshly released Miliastra Wonderland user-generated content (UGC) platform, discussed the company's overall philosophy at a GDC talk attended by GamesRadar+.
"Tech otakus save the world" is HoYoverse's more familiar, well-worn motto. On one slide of Ning's presentation, it's joined by another phrase: "Something new. Something exciting. Something out of imagination."
The shoe really drops with the top-line, blue-sky idea: "Create a virtual world for 1 billion people by 2030." The idea hits differently sandwiched between chatter around user-generated content, which in the past few years has consumed countless hours (and dollars) in game platforms like Fortnite and, especially, Roblox. With Miliastra Wonderland, HoYoverse wants to get a piece of the pie and perhaps inch closer to its dream virtual world, which is starting to come into focus.
"A rough idea alone cannot support us while we venture into the unknown path of UGC," Ning says. "We need sufficient determination and preparation. Fortunately, miHoYo doesn't focus on profits. We believe that quality content and engaged users will bring long-term benefits."
On the company's tech otaku directive, Ning adds: "If you use UGC to convert more users into tech otakus, rather than simply recruiting them, we will get closer to this goal."
The company's ambitions are still fairly out-there, but increasingly it feels like the release of Miliastra Wonderland will end up being a major milestone in HoYo history, even if – especially to Genshin Impact players like myself, who only care about the main game and don't touch UGC at all – it may not seem like a big deal right now.
Compared to other UGC contenders, HoYo has at least one massive advantage: "Genshin Impact has tens of millions of monthly active users," as Ning notes. The game has also generated billions upon billions of dollars in its lifetime; revenue reports from China alone topped $5 billion years ago, giving HoYo a healthy war chest for UGC research and development.
With this audience in mind, Ning stressed that "any stage created has the potential to reach a large audience and receive valuable feedback," focusing on the scale of Genshin and Miliastra Wonderland. It's hard not to imagine the same logic being applied to the billion-strong virtual world twinkling in HoYo's eye.
