Since its launch last year, Genshin Impact has remained an incredibly popular free-to-play RPG, but how many people actually play? While the player count is known to be in the millions, with Genshin Impact downloads topping 17 million on mobile alone, a string of recent controversies from developer miHoYo has prompted many fans to quit the game - or, at least, threaten to. So, how many people are actually leaving Genshin Impact?
Currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, and mobile, the game's accessibility accounts for at least part of its popularity. It's also been propelled by relatively forgiving gacha mechanics compared to other games in that genre, as well as a regular output of new playable characters and limited-time events that keep players interested and coming back. And with a long-awaited Switch version of Genshin Impact still reportedly in the works, the game may open up to an even wider audience in the near future.
Since its launch, Genshin Impact has only gotten more popular. Ahead of the game's first anniversary, miHoYo started a second Genshin Discord server because the first one had filled up. With cosplay and fan art being a huge part of the community, and word of mouth quickly spreading about how good the game is, it seemed initially like nothing could slow Genshin Impact's momentum. However, it was right around this time that miHoYo's problems really started trickling in, which caused a lot of fans to consider leaving the game for good.
Genshin Impact: Why Fans Are Threatening To Quit & Leave The Game
Genshin Impact has been no stranger to controversy since its release, with players posting concerns about diversity and representation - as well as issues over privacy and information sharing. However, these problems were exacerbated when miHoYo started going after leakers. A lawsuit against Bilibili prompted what fans referred to as the "Leakers Hunt Decree," and it led to many prominent Genshin Impact leakers closing their social media accounts for fear of being next.
The Leakers Hunt Decree is a reference to the Vision Hunt Decree in the recent Inazuma update, in which the Raiden Shogun is taking people's Visions. The parallels between miHoYo's crackdown on leakers and the Inazuma narrative are easy to connect. Still, it's not a good look for the company to be identified with the villainous in-game act. It's also a bit of a strange move from miHoYo since character leaks online have helped the hype for Genshin Impact to remain steady between lulls in major content updates (which happen every six weeks).
As an earlier method to curbing leakers ahead of time, Genshin Impact characters were teased early. Some, like Gorou and Arataki Itto most recently, have been shown weeks or even months prior to when they'll actually debut as playable characters. While this has been fine for stirring up unexpected excitement, that kind of hype typically hasn't lasted as long as leaks do.
Furthering the problems surrounding miHoYo, Genshin Impact, and its fans is the fact that many were left disappointed with the 1st Anniversary rewards. It seemed indicative of a larger issue - that miHoYo wasn't really listening to fan feedback or addressing valid complaints. Eventually, miHoYo revised its rewards for Genshin Impact's 1st Anniversary, showing the studio's willingness to at least listen a bit to its fans - but many people felt that it didn't go far enough at rewarding longtime players. With these back-to-back problems arising, a lot of fans threatened to quit the game and leave Genshin Impact for good.
Genshin Impact Player Count: How Many People Are Still Playing Genshin Impact
According to Activeplayer.io, which keeps active player counts of Genshin Impact and provides monthly stats on how many people are playing the game, just over 8,993,000 people played Genshin Impact in the last 30 days. This is an increase from the 8,364,799 people who played in September 2021 and even more than the 7,975,836 users reported in August 2021.
Admittedly, this is a bit lower than the all-time high of nearly 11 million users in July. However, this is likely due to the new Inazuma region for Genshin Impact 2.0 that was released that month - rather than being indicative of players leaving the game due to any of miHoYo's controversies. Perhaps surprisingly, this means Genshin Impact player counts have actually gone up since many people threatened to quit due to 1st Anniversary rewards and the Leakers Hunt Decree.
And while it's certainly possible that many players have actually quit the game, this is offset by how many new players are flocking to Genshin Impact. By all accounts, the free-to-play RPG is more popular than ever (well beyond the 3 and 4 million reported users it had throughout 2020). That also means its revenue is still incredibly high. Genshin Impact earned $400 million in its first two months last year. However, the player count for Genshin Impact is double that number now, which means its revenue is theoretically double that amount now, too.
How Genshin Impact Player Counts May Change In 2022 & Beyond
For now, it seems that Genshin Impact shows no signs of slowing down. According to the latest data, it's twice as popular as it was in 2020, which means it's likely to grow even more in the future. This will largely be dependant on a few factors, however. First, there's the confirmed Switch port to consider (and no Xbox version has been announced), which will open the game up to a new audience. Then, there's the question of whether miHoYo can continue to keep the game interesting for fans.
Otherwise, Genshin Impact's player count will likely plateau at some point and eventually begin to decrease. However, as long as miHoYo can keep its fanbase happy and continue pulling in new players, then the game's popularity could theoretically continue going up. So far, it looks like the game is here to stay for the foreseeable future. For now, though, it looks as if most players aren't really leaving Genshin Impact - and any players that do quit are being offset by the number of new people trying it out.
Source: Activeplayer.io