The day Honkai Star Rail’s Jing Yuan banner first appeared, fans threw so much money at the RPG that the in-game shop broke. The 5-star character’s banner went live in China 12 hours before it did in the U.S. and Europe, as is always the case, and players soon noticed the shop page wasn’t functioning properly.
The shop page started slowing down to the point where it could barely process orders. Some players on the Asia server even said the game itself began lagging, though HoYoverse didn’t acknowledge that as a widespread issue. A representative took to social media and said the team discovered the problem was coming from the Oneiric Pouch page, where players spend real money on the in-game currency.
JING YUAN BROKE CN SERVERS HELPPPPP pic.twitter.com/Ek3KVM0HiD
— D-DAY JING YUAN RELEASE | hourly jing yuan (@jingyuanhourly) May 17, 2023
Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Mobile analyst firm Sensor Tower reported that Honkai Star Rail brought in $20 million in April 2023, a staggering sum considering the game launched in the last week of the month. For comparison, Genshin Impact’s revenue for the entire month was $48 million, and that free-to-play game hasn’t had the same issue of players spending so much money that the shop shuts down, even with the release of highly anticipated characters.
Turn-based RPGs might be falling out of fashion, but it seems evident HoYoverse has landed on a winning formula with Star Rail, one that’s likely to prove even more lucrative as more new characters release in the coming months.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
