MiHoYo's highly anticipated title, Zenless Zone Zero, was released on Windows, iOS, Android, and PlayStation on July 4. As with many other new releases his year, it has shaken up the dynamics in the Twitch gaming section, breaking into the top ten lists for watch time and peak concurrent viewership over the past week or so.
Between July 4 and 11, this free-to-play action role-playing game amassed 6.06M Hours Watched and 120K Peak Viewers, putting it in tenth for both metrics. It also saw over 5.2K peak channels, something that shows the acceptance it has received among global audiences and streamers.
Apart from the reputation of its developer/publisher, Zenless Zone Zero has been able to attract players and content creators thanks to its cool visuals and the undoubted hype that comes with being a gacha game. Various review outlets and gamers have also praised its combat, which they say has received more focus than miHoYo's other two prominent games, Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
There were also praises from many quarters for its story and the way it was presented in an easy-to-understand and comic book-like manner. Moreover, it has a few activities that can be played in a co-op setting, which is always a nice thing to have to attract more players, although it is not a fully open-world co-op experience like other games.
That is also why it has garnered nearly $21 million since its launch a week back and reached 50 million downloads globally two days after its release. For context, Honkai: Star Rail reached $40 million in worldwide revenues in its first week while Genshin Impact, which was highly awaited among fans, hit $60 million. The latter also earned a staggering $840 million in its debut year, such was its success and acceptance post-launch in late 2020.
Sticking with comparisons between these Hoyoverse games, stats from the first eight days (after release) throw up some interesting numbers. Genshin Impact hit 13.4M HW and 215K PV to jump into Twitch's top ten table for both metrics while Honkai: Star Rail accrued 10.6M HW and 274.5K PV to also do the top ten double.
This means that all three major titles have made the top of the purple platform's charts in their first week of release, which is a record to be proud of and something not every publisher can pull off. That Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail still find places on these leaderboards, especially during update days, is a testament to the work miHoYo has done in keeping them feeling fresh and interesting for players.
What has also helped Zenless Zone Zero match its two successful predecessors is that it has attracted some top names from the streaming industry. The likes of PirateSoftware, zackrawrr, and fps_shaka have all put in significant amounts of time playing the game, helping reach a larger audience than it might otherwise have.
However, it was Asian audiences who showed a much higher inclination toward watching and playing the game. The three main languages — Chinese, Japanese, and Russian — contributed 32.9% to its total watch time over the first eight days post-launch, which isn't surprising as the gacha genre is usually in higher demand in these countries.
The Spanish community has also shown a certain level of interest in the title, as seen by ElSpreen being the second-most popular creator to play it over the last week. In ninth was another member of this community, Carreraaa, showing just how widespread it had become after word of the gameplay spread around.
Gacha games might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is no denying that when a good game in this genre does come out, the hype makes it quite the event. If it goes on to be a success, like Zenless Zone Zero has so far, then that only makes it a good time for the community, which has more games to stream and play and exchange their views on the same.
