MiHoYo Focuses on Creating a Generation's Two-Dimensional Memories

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作为一家大学生创业、靠10万元贷款起步的游戏公司，米哈游只用了短短9年时间，就实现了员工从3人到1500人、营收从0元到超过20亿元的跨越式发展。而米哈游这些年的起飞之路，背后可以窥见的正是上海游戏产业迎来高能爆发的时间表和航线图。
As a game company that started with a 1 million RMB loan, founded by college students, miHoYo achieved remarkable growth in just 9 years, expanding from 3 employees to 1500 and revenue from zero to over 2 billion RMB. The company's takeoff journey in recent years provides a glimpse into the timetable and route map of the high-energy outbreak in the Shanghai gaming industry.

日前中国游戏产业研究院宣布落户上海张江国家数字出版基地，以专业数据研究助推上海打造“游戏创新之城”；而在2018年上海推出《关于加快本市文化创意产业创新发展的若干意见》（“文创50条”），已经剑指“全球电竞之都”。谈到近些年不断传来的利好消息，米哈游创始人之一刘伟对公司、对产业、对上海无一不信心满满：“游戏产业聚集优势明显，尤其是拥有大量国际化人才——立足上海的游戏企业天然具有创新优势和国际化视野，手游领域的国际知名企业呼之欲出。”
The China Game Industry Research Institute recently announced its establishment at the Shanghai Zhangjiang National Digital Publishing Base, aiming to promote the development of Shanghai as the "City of Game Innovation" through professional data research. In 2018, Shanghai launched the "Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries in this Municipality" ("Cultural Innovation 50 Measures"), targeting the goal of becoming the "Global E-sports Capital." Regarding the continuous stream of positive news in recent years, miHoYo co-founder Liu Wei expressed full confidence in the company, the industry, and Shanghai: "The advantages of the gaming industry gathering are obvious, especially with a large number of international talents. Game enterprises based in Shanghai naturally have innovative advantages and an international perspective. Internationally renowned companies in the mobile gaming field are emerging."

## Adhering to the Original Intention, Refining the Field, and Dedicating to the Development of the Two-Dimensional Gaming Market

保持专注与创新，通过用户的视角来研究用户需求，打造出让用户沉浸的游戏文化，是米哈游成功的关键。回忆起当初挤在租来的房子里，每天吃着沙县小吃、兰州拉面、菜饭骨头汤的创业日子，刘伟并不感觉那是辛苦：“希望米哈游创造的游戏IP可以在一代人心中留下永生不灭的回忆，这是我们三位创始人共同的初心。”
Maintaining focus and innovation, miHoYo's success lies in researching user needs from the user's perspective and creating an immersive gaming culture. Reflecting on the entrepreneurial days when they squeezed into a rented house, eating local snacks, Lanzhou noodles, and rice with bone soup every day, Liu Wei did not feel it was hard: "We hope that the game IPs created by miHoYo can leave everlasting memories in the hearts of a generation. This is the common original intention of the three founders."

对于宅男来说，动漫和游戏算得上是标配了。2005年，三个宅男蔡浩宇、刘伟、罗宇皓进入上海交通大学学习。共同的兴趣爱好让他们在课余时间投入动漫网站和游戏的制作。“我们热爱动漫，想做和动漫相关的工作，但那时候国内几乎没有动漫公司，所以最后我们只有自己创业了。”于是，2011年1月，在上海交大闵行校区D32宿舍内，当时读研究生二年级的蔡浩宇、刘伟、罗宇皓正式成立了米哈游工作室，他们提出的公司口号是“技术宅拯救世界”。对于大学生创业者们来说，启动资金和办公场地都是难题，而上海市科技创业中心提供10万元无息贷款和免费使用半年的50平方米办公室，让三个年轻人有了拼搏逐梦的勇气和信心。
For otakus, anime and games are almost essential. In 2005, three otakus, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao, entered Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Their common interests led them to invest their spare time in the production of anime websites and games. "We love anime and wanted to work in the anime-related field, but at that time, there were almost no anime companies in China, so in the end, we had to start our own business." Therefore, in January 2011, in the D32 dormitory of the Minhang campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao, who were second-year graduate students at the time, officially established miHoYo Studio. The slogan they proposed for the company was "Tech Otakus to Save the World." For college student entrepreneurs, startup capital and office space were both challenges, and the Shanghai Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center provided a 100,000 RMB interest-free loan and free use of a 50-square-meter office for six months, giving the three young people the courage and confidence to strive for their dreams.

“尽管当时谁也不敢想象国产动漫游戏市场能发展到今天的规模，但是我们相信一定有一群和我们一样热爱二次元的宅男在那里。”刘伟说。宅男最懂宅男，他们放弃了当时市场上流行的三国题材游戏，专注研发二次元游戏产品“崩坏”系列。“我们自己就是宅男，所以懂得宅男的专注与‘长情’。”所以，米哈游走了一条与当时流行的“氪金就能变强”游戏不同的道路，强调角色设计、注重剧情，“有足够丰富和完整的世界观，才能让用户获得沉浸式的体验”。“崩坏”系列从一开始就有轻小说、漫画、音乐，让用户被宏大完整的游戏世界观所吸引。
"Although no one dared to imagine that the domestic anime and gaming market could develop to the scale it is today, we believed that there must be a group of otakus who love two-dimensional as much as we do," said Liu Wei. "Otakus understands otakus the best; they gave up on the Three Kingdoms-themed games that were popular in the market at the time and focused on developing the two-dimensional game series *Honkai*. "We are otakus ourselves, so we understand the dedication and 'long-lasting love' of otakus." Therefore, miHoYo took a different path from the popular "pay-to-win" games at the time, emphasizing character design, focusing on the storyline, and stating, "Only with a rich and complete worldview can users have an immersive experience." The *Honkai* series has included light novels, manga, and music from the beginning, attracting users with its grand and cohesive gaming universe.

如今，米哈游的大部分员工和公司的创始人一样，既是动漫游戏文化的创作者，同时也是忠实玩家。他们理解用户感受，才能创作出更符合动漫游戏用户需求的优秀作品。从《崩坏学园》到《崩坏3》，从最开始被少量的核心用户喜欢和接受，到最终被越来越多的用户和市场认可和接受。经过不断积累，到2014年米哈游公司迎来爆发式增长，年营业收入突破亿元。
Today, most of miHoYo's employees, like the company's founders, are both creators of anime and gaming culture and loyal players. They understand the user experience, enabling them to create excellent works that better meet the needs of anime and gaming users. From *Houkai Gakuen* to *Honkai Impact 3rd*, from initially being liked and accepted by a small number of core users to being increasingly recognized and accepted by more users and the market, miHoYo experienced explosive growth in 2014, with annual revenue exceeding 100 million RMB after continuous accumulation.

## Building an Industrialized Pipeline for Cultural Products, Aiming Directly at World-Class

“我们要做世界一流的ACG公司。”米哈游毫不掩饰自己的野心。所谓ACG，是动画、漫画、游戏的总称。2019年，米哈游营业收入超过20亿元，其中三分之一来自海外市场。不过，这与国际动漫巨头仍有巨大差距，尽管有着优秀的手游以及IP，但在动漫游戏的工业化产能上存在巨大缺口。作为米哈游联合创始人之一的蔡浩宇提出：建立文化产品管线，进行工业化大生产。文化产品的工业化管线可以类比于生产流水线，有着明确的上下游制作环节和标准，每个生产环节可以不断改进、提升效率。
"We aim to become a world-class ACG company," miHoYo doesn't shy away from expressing its ambitions. ACG refers to Animation, Comics, and Games. In 2019, miHoYo's annual revenue exceeded 2 billion RMB, with one-third coming from the international market. However, there is still a significant gap compared to international animation and gaming giants. Despite having excellent mobile games and IPs, there is a substantial lack of industrialized production capacity in the animation and gaming industry. Cai Haoyu, one of miHoYo's co-founders, proposed establishing a cultural product pipeline for industrialized mass production. The industrialized pipeline for cultural products can be likened to a production assembly line with clear upstream and downstream production stages and standards, allowing continuous improvement and efficiency enhancement at each production stage.

“文化产品的工业化管线”目标是围绕原创IP来开发包括小说、漫画、动画、游戏、周边等在内的文化产品，这绝非只是一个计划或者口号，它在米哈游下一代旗舰产品《原神》的制作中已经得到广泛应用。在600多人团队、数亿元投入、四年精心制作之后，《原神》预计在2020年下半年正式推出。据悉，《原神》将在国产原创游戏中率先实现开放世界系统。区别于传统以任务和关卡驱动的游戏方式，开放世界系统允许用户自由地与环境以及NPC互动，更好地模拟真实的世界。米哈游对于《原神》在海内外市场的成功寄予了厚望，正如出品人所言：“文创产业已经进入了全球竞争阶段，充满中国文化元素的《原神》将在全球玩家的万众瞩目中登场，直面考验，乘风破浪。”
The goal of the "industrialized pipeline for cultural products" is to develop cultural products around original IPs, including novels, comics, animations, games, and peripherals. This is not just a plan or a slogan; it has already been widely applied in the production of miHoYo's next-generation flagship product, *Genshin Impact*. After meticulous development by a team of over 600 people, an investment of several hundred million RMB, and four years of work, *Genshin Impact* is expected to be officially launched in the second half of 2020. It is reported that *Genshin Impact* will be the first domestic original game to implement an open-world system. Different from traditional games driven by missions and levels, the open-world system allows users to interact freely with the environment and NPCs, better simulating the real world. miHoYo has high hopes for the success of *Genshin Impact* in both domestic and international markets, as expressed by the producer: "The cultural and creative industry has entered a global competition stage, and *Genshin Impact*, filled with Chinese cultural elements, will debut in front of a global audience, facing tests and riding the waves."