Honkai Star Rail flourished on multiple platforms, but will it join the Xbox family?
miHoYo publishes its titles for multiple platforms, yet one console that seems overlooked is the Xbox. Although Genshin Impact has existed on PlayStation and mobile for years, it remained mysteriously absent from the Xbox family of consoles. That changed when miHoYo announced Genshin Impact for the Xbox Series X/S.
Xbox fans who have wanted to try out the fantasy gacha RPG were thrilled. However, another miHoYo game fandom was left out of the Xbox conversation, leaving fans wondering if Honkai Star Rail will ever board Microsoft’s ship.
Is Honkai Star Rail coming to Xbox?
miHoYo has not announced any plans to port Honkai Star Rail to Xbox.
The studio’s gacha games have thrived on PlayStation, PC, and mobile, yet remained suspiciously absent from Xbox. As it turns out, the company reached out to Microsoft for a potential Xbox release.
Per a report by Reuters, people close to Microsoft’s dealings with miHoYo at the time revealed the two were in negotiations ahead of Genshin Impact’s launch. The two sides failed to close a deal. That opened the door for Sony to partner with miHoYo for Genshin Impact’s release, with that console exclusivity holding through November 2024.
It wasn’t until 2024 that Microsoft and miHoYo finally partnered, with Genshin Impact coming to the platform for the first time. Analysts have found that Microsoft began heavily investing in the Chinese gaming market in 2022, which could mean more miHoYo ports in the future.
In the meantime, Genshin Impact’s presence on the Xbox console could grease the wheels for other miHoYo games like Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. Since the studio remained silent on the Genshin Impact partnership with Xbox until its official announcement, fans likely won’t know anything about these potential ports until their respective official announcements.
Whether this expansion will work in Xbox’s favor remains unknown. Xbox’s past attempts to break into Asian markets have consistently gone awry. Microsoft’s console sales in the region are infamously lacking compared to Nintendo and Sony.
Xbox hopes to catch up with its competitors in those markets through partnerships with miHoYo and other major developers in the region, and Genshin Impact is the start.
miHoYo confirmed a larger exclusivity arrangement with PlayStation in 2024 in relation to Zenless Zone Zero. This combined with Genshin Impact’s launch on Xbox suggests that plans may have changed. For now though, there’s no sign of a Honkai Star Rail launch on Xbox.