Apple has named Genshin Impact as the winner of the iPhone Game of the Year. The mobile and console game launched in September this year and went on to be a massive success. Originally, Genshin Impact had a budget of $100 million but it has been estimated that it earned over $250 million in revenue within its first month of release. It is reported that the game has since grossed over $393 million since launch.
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Apple’s team of editors picked Genshin Impact as the iPhone Game of the Year due to its theme of “helpfulness”. According to Apple, the game helped by delivering a breathtaking open world where players could take their minds off the global pandemic while playing the game. The theme of “helpfulness” applied to games and apps that helped users stay fit and mindful during the year. This includes a distraction from the disaster that has been 2020. Genshin Impact also won the Google Play Game of the Year.
Forrest Lin, present of MiHoYo says that the development of Genshin Impact was a big risk. However, when they started the development of the game three years ago, they knew that in 2020, Apple’s iPhone range would be able to deliver the game’s visual fidelity the studio was aiming for.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#D8FF33″ class=”” size=”21″]“We have brought the console-quality to a free-to-play mobile game. Three years ago, people thought we were crazy. It was a big risk we took from the technical and design perspective. But we knew the flagship Apple devices would have to be powerful enough to run a game that we could make.[/perfectpullquote]
Apart from Genshin Impact, other winners include Legends of Runeterra, Disco Elysium, Dandara Trials of Fear, and Apple’s very own Sneaky Sasquatch. Pokemon GO was also recognised for its “App Trend of the Year” by reinventing the way players experienced the game amid the pandemic.
