Kuro Games is probably the closest to Mihoyo, especially since some of the founders worked on HI3, but to do what Mihoyo does, Kuro would need a lot more money, and the ability to scale things way up. As awesome as that would be to see, every time Mihoyo foreys into a new genre, they grab more of the potential market. And they have name brand recognition to drive success. You see ‘Hoyoverse’ on something new, you likely go “oh good, I wonder the heck they’re releasing next.”

If miHoYo games are boring and lack substance we haven’t even gotten Japanese and Korean games on par with what miHoYo games does. You want to evaluate that opinion again?

With that said I will never support inhuman working conditions.

Japan also spits out gacha games half-heartedly with the chance it won’t last long in mind, not investing in it like their best productions. That’s the big difference with Genshin, but could be also Korea and China are just better at manipulating consumers in how they approach gambling.

Japan is playing it safe, so of course they will look to others instead of doing what they did best. It’s just Yoshida’s take, yet many others feel AA isn’t worth it and keep pressing on with trying to replicate the West or holding back devs from growing. That success put Japanese games ahead and that was followed/alongside technology. They succeeded pushing ahead and with limitations. I’m not sure they promote their indie scene as much as they could,either.

Take a look at Wuthering Waves, that’s the most cinematic anime-style game yet, even when compared to offline games. Or Infinity Nikki, which has done what every other dress-up game couldn’t. Even Mihoyo – a company that I love bashing on, by the way – is so much ahead of Japanese studios that are working on online games, from development to global publishing, the whole production pipeline.

The fact that Chinese online games are the only Asian online games that can operate globally without third-party publisher and region block speaks volume.