Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact landed in September 2020 and we jumped in immediately—we knew we were watching something shift the industry right before our eyes. miHoYo's free-to-play anime gacha looked like a Breath of the Wild tribute on the surface, but it had ambitions way bigger than that. The open-world design was legitimately excellent, the character roster had real cultural representation, and the combat felt responsive. Sure, the endgame was simplistic and the monetization was sketchy, but none of that mattered in those early months. We were streaming to audiences who'd never touched a gacha game before, watching them experience that perfect storm of anime aesthetics, Japanese voice acting, and complete accessibility. By the time we finished our 2020 run, Genshin had already established itself as the future of gaming economics—free-to-play anime games could dominate western markets. The house was glued to every update.

We streamed Genshin Impact for 27.3 hours in 2020, pulling 8,068.8 hours watched with an average of 289 viewers and a peak of 403. Those numbers captured the moment when Genshin went from novelty to phenomenon. The engagement was real—audiences wanted to see what this game was doing differently, and we were there to show them.