During the 3.1 Special Program last month, fans of Genshin Impact were treated to the exciting news that an anime adaptation was on the way. The anticipation skyrocketed following the announcement that Ufotable, the animation studio behind the hit series Demon Slayer, would be teaming up with HoYoverse to bring the world of Teyvat to the small screen. While details surrounding the project have been limited, a recent leak is giving fans an idea of what to expect.
A recent post made by user Liuuzaki on the Genshin Impact leaks subreddit shows a translation of a post originally made on a Chinese discussion board. According to this, the anime series will be a prequel to the game itself and won’t feature the twins–rather, it will begin nearly 500 years before the events of the gacha title. Specifically, the series is said to focus on the nations of Teyvat prior to the beginning of the Archon War. If this rumor is to be believed, entire seasons will be devoted to a different nation appearing in Genshin Impact, promising that the series won’t be a flash in the pan. Ufotable might be in this for the long haul–understandable, given how much of a cash cow the free-to-play game has proven to be over the past few years.
In May, it was announced that Genshin Impact had surpassed $3 billion in global lifetime player spending across Google Play and the App Store since its initial launch on September 28, 2020. Following its release in 2020, Genshin Impact took 171 days to generate its first $1 billion on mobile. Following that pattern, the game has averaged revenue of $1 billion every six months. There’s no doubt that the anime series will pull in some serious numbers when it eventually releases.
According to the leak, the series has been in development for nearly 18 months. Three out of a supposed 12 episodes have already been completed, with the first season likely taking place in the Mondstadt region. This is the first area players explore in the game.
The game features a vast world, and fans are hoping that the anime series goes into more detail regarding each of the seven continents and respective Archons, or guardians. While the manga series isn’t nearly as popular as the game itself, many posts on Reddit express an interest in the anime series utilizing storylines from the manga.
Genshin Impact is available to play on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and mobile devices. A Nintendo Switch version is currently in development, though no release date has been announced. It’s unclear when the anime series will be released, but HoYoverse has promised that this will be a long-term project. When all is said and done, fans could be looking at well over 100 episodes to enjoy.
