Sci-fi trumps fantasy as Honkai: Star Rail surpasses Genshin Impact's launch numbers

pcgamer.com:

Honkai: Star Rail(opens in new tab) is off to a fantastic start, the official Weibo account has revealed. As spotted by analyst Daniel Ahmad, director of research & insights at Niko Partners, the follow-up to Genshin Impact has already been downloaded more than 20 million times(opens in new tab), a mere day after launch. 

This is a considerable bump when compared to the very successful launch of Genshin Impact, which was downloaded 17 million times(opens in new tab) on mobile on its first four days. It also went on to gross more than $100m in two weeks(opens in new tab), covering its development costs. The Honkai: Star Rail announcement seems to be focused on its mobile performance, rather than PC, so I've reached out to the developer to find out how it's doing across the board.  

Ahmad adds that it had 30 million pre-registrations(opens in new tab), 21 million of them coming from China. And while China is where it seems to be enjoying the greatest popularity, it's still managed to claim the #1 spot on the iOS charts in more countries than any game before it. 

Clearly the appetite for space trains knows no bounds. Or it might have something to do with Genshin being absolutely massive, giving Honkai: Star Rail an enthusiastic audience ready to try the next big thing. 

I never quite got into Genshin, despite repeated attempts, because I just found the world a bit dull—I've spent too much time in brightly-coloured, verdant fantasy lands. Honkai: Star Rail, however, has really grabbed my attention. The turn-based combat is much more my speed, especially when I'm playing on my phone. Also it's just deeply weird. It's full of esoteric sci-fi bullshit and I can't get enough.