Genshin Impact has been a surprise hit since its release. While most free to play games are expected to have a huge number of downloads and players, of course it would still depend on the quality of the game that will keep the players wanting more. Its been a week since release and so far, according to analysts, Genshin Impact already holds the distinction of being the biggest globally launched Chinese game ever.

According to an article on the South China Morning Post, Genshin Impact had more than 110,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch when it launched, beating out even the likes of Fortnite that day.

App Annie also shows that the game has accumulated over 17 million global downloads in just 4 days after it’s launch, and this is just counting mobile downloads, without the inclusion of PC and PS4.

Being a free to play game, its revenue model revolves around Gacha rolls, which give players a chance to score certain characters and weapons that will help them throughout the game. Interestingly enough, while the game does not lock anything behind this gacha model and it is largely considered to be not a “pay to win” game, app tracking from Qimai Data suggests that Genshin Impact has already gained over $1.84 Million on iOS sales alone, making it the second top-grossing app on the iOS App store in China, just ahead of Douyin (sister app of TikTok).

Even before its release, Genshin Impact had nearly 5.3 million pre-registrations and in China alone, the numbers shot to a staggering 16 million pre-registrations.

These figures show that Chinese game companies are catching up to their counterparts in Japan and America with regards to producing top quality games that can be enjoyed by many. In fact, if you haven’t heard of it yet, another game has caught the internet by storm in the form of Black Myth: Wukong, making it one of the most hotly anticipated games of the next-generation.

Genshin Impact was once ridiculed for being a Breath of the Wild rip-off when it was first unveiled, prompting users to scream foul and boycott the game over similarities like gliding, cooking, and even the stamina system. As more information about the game was seen, it was clear that while there elements that are inspired by the Nintendo Switch title, it had systems and mechanics that would make it a unique game of its own.

Genshin Impact is now available as a free to play title for the PlayStation 4, PC, and mobile devices, with a Nintendo Switch version coming soon.