Hoyoverse just dropped a 31-minute gameplay demo for Varsapura, its next major game project. The footage shows an open-world RPG with combat mechanics that look familiar to anyone who’s played Genshin Impact or Zenless Zone Zero. With Genshin Impact still pulling in over $54 million in October 2025 alone, the big question is whether Varsapura can replicate that success or if Hoyoverse is stretching its player base too thin. Let’s break down what we know about Varsapura and whether it has what it takes to become the company’s next money maker.
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What is Varsapura?
Varsapura is Hoyoverse’s next open-world action RPG, built on Unreal Engine 5 instead of Unity. This marks a significant shift for the studio, which has relied on Unity for all its previous major titles. The game follows a protagonist known as Hollowone, who joins an organization called the Shadow Emergency Alliance (SEAL) to hunt down a mysterious figure from her past.
Combat looks almost identical to what Hoyoverse has done before. It is filled with fast, fluid encounters with character swapping and chained abilities. The demo shows Hollowone fighting shadow monsters while using an umbrella as both a weapon and a tool for movement. If you’ve played Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, or Zenless Zone Zero, you already know what to expect.
Can Varsapura Compete with Genshin Impact?
Genshin Impact is still Hoyoverse’s biggest earner by a wide margin. In October 2025, the game pulled in $54.7 million, taking the top spot in the gacha game revenue rankings. That’s five years after launch, which is impressive for any live-service game. Love and Deepspace came in second at $50 million, followed by Pokemon TCG Pocket at $43 million.
Honkai Star Rail, Hoyoverse’s other major title, brought in $22.4 million in October, which is solid but nowhere near Genshin’s numbers. Zenless Zone Zero didn’t even make the top ten for the month, which suggests that Hoyoverse’s strategy of launching multiple games with similar mechanics might be hitting some limits. You can also see how the rest of the gacha market is trending in our Gacha Games Revenue, Ranking, and Charts report.
Varsapura has a tough road ahead because Hoyoverse is mostly competing with its own games. Players who have already spent time and money on Genshin Impact or Honkai Star Rail may not want to start another similar game. If Varsapura uses the same event-heavy system, honestly, it could be hard for players to fit it into their daily routine.
Familiar Mechanics Could be a Problem
One of the biggest concerns with Varsapura is how similar it looks to Hoyoverse’s other games. The combat system, character swapping, and ability chaining are all mechanics that players have seen before. While the Singapore-inspired setting and mindrot storyline are new, the core gameplay loop still feels very close to Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero.
This could help Varsapura if players want a familiar style in a new world. But it could also hurt the game if it feels too similar and doesn’t bring enough new ideas to make players want to spend their time on it. Hoyoverse’s earlier titles have been successful because they arrived when the market had fewer competitors. Now, with multiple Hoyoverse games already taking up players’ time, Varsapura needs to prove that it is worth adding to the rotation.
The shift to Unreal Engine 5 is interesting and could result in better visuals and performance, but I feel like that alone won’t be enough to carry the game. Players care more about engaging content and rewarding progression systems than they do about graphics. If Varsapura’s gacha system and events feel too much like Genshin, the game may have a hard time standing out.
Can Hoyoverse Sustain Multiple Live-Service Games?
Hoyoverse is pushing out more games, and Varsapura is joining a long list that already includes Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and the upcoming Petit Planet and Honkai: Nexus Anima. The big question is whether players can keep up with all of them at the same time.
Gacha games are designed to be time sinks. Daily commissions, limited-time events, and battle passes all push players to log in regularly and stay engaged. When you have multiple games competing for the same player’s time, something has to give. Zenless Zone Zero’s absence from the October revenue top ten suggests that even Hoyoverse’s newer titles can struggle when players are already committed to Genshin or Star Rail.
Varsapura’s success depends on how well it can set itself apart and bring in players who aren’t already tired of Hoyoverse’s other games. If the game feels like “Genshin Impact but in Singapore,” it might not be enough to pull people away from what they’re already playing. But if it introduces genuinely new mechanics or a more compelling story, it could find an audience.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see. Hoyoverse hasn’t announced a release date or beta, so there’s still time for the studio to refine the game and figure out how to make it stand out. Whether Varsapura becomes the next big cash cow or just another entry in Hoyoverse’s growing catalog remains to be seen.
