HoYoverse’s hit gacha game Honkai: Star Rail has smashed through the $2 billion mark in mobile player spending, reaching this impressive milestone just a month before celebrating its 2nd anniversary.
The space fantasy RPG crossed this threshold on March 23, 2025, marking an incredible journey since launching on April 26, 2023. Reaching its first billion dollars took about 9 months (January 14, 2024), with the second billion following about 14 months after that.
According to AppMagic data (noted by Pocketgamer.biz), Honkai: Star Rail took 23 months to achieve what its sister title Genshin Impact accomplished in only 13 months. Despite this difference in pace, Honkai: Star Rail actually generated more revenue than Genshin Impact throughout 2024.
The game made quite the entrance when it launched, shattering records with a whopping 20 million downloads on day one. Its biggest money-making month came shortly after in May 2023, when players dropped $209.1 million on the game. During this lucrative period, players could spend on four special gacha banners, including ones featuring five-star characters Seele and Jing Yuan, plus rare Light Cones that boost character performance.
Jing Yuan‘s arrival on May 17th really got players opening their wallets, with spending hitting $14.9 million on May 18th alone. This record stood for almost a year until Version 2.1 dropped on March 27th, 2024, bringing fresh maps, stories, and characters that helped rake in an even more impressive $15.9 million in just 24 hours.
March 2024 turned out to be Honkai: Star Rail’s best month of the year, generating $129.8 million on mobile. During this same time, Genshin Impact hit its lowest point with just $59 million, leading many to wonder if the two HoYoverse games were competing for the same players’ attention (and money).
For seven straight months, from March to October 2024, Honkai: Star Rail consistently outperformed Genshin Impact. By year’s end, Honkai: Star Rail had collected $870.9 million compared to Genshin Impact’s $730.1 million across both app stores.
The rivalry continues in 2025, with Genshin Impact currently holding a slight edge in the first quarter. As of March, Honkai: Star Rail has pulled in $152.2 million while Genshin Impact has earned $159.3 million.
Both games are most popular in China, which accounts for 36% of Honkai: Star Rail’s revenue and 37% of Genshin Impact’s. Japanese players seem to prefer the newer game, making up 29% of Honkai: Star Rail’s spending versus 22% for Genshin Impact. American players contribute 13% to Honkai: Star Rail’s earnings compared to 16% for Genshin Impact.
Honkai: Star Rail has firmly established itself as one of the biggest mobile gaming success stories since the pandemic, landing as 2023’s second most profitable new mobile release (behind only Monopoly Go) and the ninth highest-earning mobile game overall that year.
Even as the initial hype has naturally cooled somewhat, Honkai: Star Rail remained a major player in 2024, finishing as the 12th highest-grossing mobile game and outperforming established titles like Genshin Impact and Pokémon Go.
The 2nd Anniversary Celebration officially kicked off on March 28, with a variety of events and rewards coming up.
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