When Honkai Impact 3rd entered open beta—
At Penguin Games.
As fate would have it, they had just launched their own new mobile game, Desert Showdown, on the exact same day.
Naturally, with their deep pockets, Penguin had lined up all the major streaming platforms and tons of top-tier influencers to push the promotion hard.
For a while, Desert Showdown dominated the spotlight, completely overshadowing Honkai Impact 3rd.
Within just one hour of launch, Desert Showdown hit 500,000 downloads—and the number was still climbing rapidly.
Out in the hallway, the project lead for the game walked with his hands behind his back, observing the buzzing office filled with cheerful employees. He asked, putting on a stern act:
"How are things looking?"
One of the staff members, still refreshing the leaderboard page, turned their screen toward him.
"Since all the games that launched earlier today are from smaller companies, even though we've only just gone live, we've already climbed into the top ten trending games."
The project lead's expression lit up—but he forced himself to stay composed, suppressing a grin as he replied with faux humility:
"Only top ten? No big deal. Let's stay focused—our goal is #1. We're aiming for 'Best Domestic Game of the Year.'"
"Of course, sir. We have to think long-term."
The staffer hit refresh again and noticed Desert Showdown had climbed another spot.
"Oh, right," the project lead mused aloud after a few paces. "That game Honkai Impact 3rd—what's it ranked right now?"
He paused. "Can't be that low, right? They've been trending hard on PiliPili."
"Let me check."
The employee scrolled down the chart and found Honkai Impact 3rd sitting at rank 21.
"Rank 21. Not bad for a small indie studio. I'd guess that so-called 3D real-time combat game, even if it's real, probably has a ton of bugs. No comparison to what we've built."
The project lead nodded, somewhat satisfied—but for some reason, he felt a twinge of unease.
"Refresh again, just to be sure," he said.
The staffer didn't question it. He obediently hit refresh.
Then—bam.
Honkai Impact 3rd vanished from the 21st spot.
"Did it really drop off?"
He scrolled further down, looking for its icon past the 50th spot… but found nothing.
He swallowed hard, an absurd thought creeping into his mind.
He scrolled all the way back to the top.
And there it was—at #13.
"What?! Already at 13? Is the leaderboard bugged?!"
The project lead's brows furrowed. His eyes sharpened. "Refresh again."
"Again?"
The staffer reflexively clicked refresh—and then froze, eyes wide as dinner plates.
"Holy crap—top 10!! It's in 10th place now!"
Desert Showdown was only in 9th place at that moment.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Honkai Impact 3rd surpassed it entirely.
"This is insane! What kind of game is this?!"
"Everyone, download Honkai Impact 3rd—now!!"
The project lead's command echoed through the entire office.
"What about our new game?!"
"Who gives a damn about it right now?!"
Honkai Impact 3rd's rapid ascent on the trending charts didn't just rattle Penguin Games—it had the entire industry holding its breath.
The studio ranked #10 was particularly shaken. The person in charge forced a smile and said to a colleague:
"Did you see that? A game just whooshed past us like we were standing still."
"…"
The colleague had no words either—except to join them in trying Honkai Impact 3rd.
End result: they both got hooked. Hard. Dumped tons of money into the gacha.
"Finally got Herrscher of Thunder—Raiden Mei in the Crimson Impulse battlesuit!" one of them cheered.
The other stopped swiping his credit card just long enough to grin. "Watch me demolish these Honkai Beasts!"
"You're way too into this already, huh?"
"What, you think Honkai Impact 3rd isn't good?"
His friend glanced at the Herrscher of Thunder and Moonlight battlesuits he just pulled and let out a quiet sigh.
"It's good. Too good."
These were industry veterans—people who'd played and analyzed thousands of games over the years.
And even they were completely hooked.
As for regular players—who were long fed up with the boring, recycled mobile games on the market?
There was no way they could resist Honkai Impact 3rd.
"This game's insane. I respect it."
The two of them were fully convinced now—Honkai Impact 3rd was the arrival of a true giant in the industry.
And they weren't alone. Anyone who saw the game soaring past their own felt the same.
More and more industry professionals were whispering the same question:
"Is this game really that good?"
"No way… right?"
All that was missing was for them to actually log in and try it.
And once they did—any thoughts of Honkai Impact 3rd being "just another mobile game" vanished.
This wasn't just an evolution.
This was a dimensional shift.
To anyone who truly understood game design, it was obvious:
Honkai Impact 3rd was about to steamroll everything in its path.
The whole industry was left stunned.
No one saw this coming.
Not even the media had paid attention to miHoYo Studio before now.
They expected Penguin to dominate as always, or maybe a top-tier studio to knock them off their throne.
Not… miHoYo.
Yet miHoYo had bulldozed its way into the top ranks—effortlessly.
At this rate, it would reach #1 within a day or two, triggering a black hole effect on all other games.
If the combined popularity of the other top ten games couldn't match Honkai Impact 3rd alone… that would be embarrassing.
But the question was:
How?
It wasn't that people doubted the quality of Honkai Impact 3rd.
They just couldn't figure out how miHoYo—miHoYo!—could create something this good.
Casual fans might assume miHoYo had great tech and finally "figured it out."
But for insiders?
That was basically impossible.
It would be like dropping out of middle school, then skipping straight to grad school and scoring higher than your professors.
If miHoYo really had this kind of talent, why had they flopped for so many years?
The real reason wasn't hard to deduce.
A single name was now on everyone's radar: Hokuto.
The guy who took out a loan to buy out miHoYo…
"Funded it and created the concept? What is this, precision-targeted miracle-working?"
Those who pieced it together were stunned.
One man had reversed an entire studio's fate through sheer will, time, and vision.
He didn't just save a dying company.
He elevated miHoYo.
At this point—
Hokuto wasn't just the boss. He was the Godfather of miHoYo.