Invest 200 million in artificial sun, get a 100-fold return from AI giants... Are these all "random investments" made by miHoYo?

Title Image | "Honkai: Star Rail"

MiHoYo is becoming increasingly active in the capital market.

Just as the gaming industry's attention was drawn to the news that MiHoYo had successively invested in two former NetEase game producers, on the other hand, MiHoYo has entered a more hardcore arena. The Energy Singularity, in which MiHoYo invested a hefty 200 million yuan earlier, recently broke the global record with its "artificial sun" achieving a stable operation of 1,337 seconds, triggering extensive media coverage.

In the gaming world, MiHoYo's investment strategy stands out. In the past, it didn't invest much in game development teams. Instead, it put money into a bunch of companies focusing on IP business and exploring cutting - edge technologies like AI. While these investments were somewhat understandable, its cross - border investments in areas such as artificial sun, brain - computer interfaces, and private rockets left many people scratching their heads.

Back then, a quote from Liu Wei, the founder of MiHoYo, "It's just out of pure passion and random investment," went viral on the Internet. However, looking at the results, MiHoYo has reaped the rewards with three IPO - listed companies: Minimax, an AI large - model company with a market value of over 300 billion yuan; Suplay, a card - selling company with annual revenue exceeding 100 million yuan; and Soul, a social platform for Generation Z. It has also invested in APEX - TOYS, the leading figure in the collectible figure industry, and well - known trendy toy brand IPSTAR. As netizens put it, "If it was just random investment, then the luck was truly incredible."

Note: The table is an incomplete statistics, only listing the companies directly invested by MiHoYo. The investment targets of its affiliated funds are not included in the table.

Which game development teams has MiHoYo invested in?

At least on the surface, MiHoYo hasn't invested in many game development teams. However, since this year, its investment activities in the gaming field seem to be accelerating. It is reported that an in - house small team of less than 10 people has been established, specifically responsible for game incubation and investment. The former vice - president of game investment and cooperation from a major game company has joined and reports directly to CEO Liu Wei.

Recently, MiHoYo acquired stakes in two startup companies that are generally favored by the capital market.

One is Guangzhou Zhiming Network, founded by Xuanzi, the former producer of "Beyond the World". It is developing a 2D, female - oriented, story - driven game, which is said to be quite different from previous game genres.

The other is Guangzhou Weixiao Technology, founded by Li Kaiming, the former producer of "Conquest of Elysium", and the founding members also include Liu Boyu, the former senior director of overseas game distribution at NetEase. The company plans to develop single - player strategy games and has received investments from MiHoYo, IDG, and 37 Interactive Entertainment. After the investment, its valuation exceeded $100 million.

Digging deeper into the past, MiHoYo has also invested in XD Inc., Beijing Mystery House, Shanghai Magic Sword Network, and Shanghai Apeiji Network.

Back in 2019, when XD Inc. went public in Hong Kong, MiHoYo appeared in XD Inc.'s prospectus as a "cornerstone investor". Along with ByteDance, Lilith, and Papergames, it subscribed to $23 million worth of placement shares, accounting for about 20% of the issuance scale. At that time, XD Inc.'s revenue was 2.8 billion yuan. The prospectus stated that "cornerstone investors are full of confidence in the future growth and business prospects of our group", which has been proven true. Six years later, XD Inc.'s revenue has doubled, approaching 5.8 billion yuan.

Image Source: XD Inc.'s Prospectus

Mystery House received investments from MiHoYo in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Now, MiHoYo is the largest shareholder, holding about 22.45% of the shares. The company previously focused on reasoning - related product content. It started with offline physical businesses, such as escape rooms, offline VR experience stores, and puzzle books. The puzzle book business developed quite well and has long been the company's revenue engine. The three books in its "Mystery Palace" series have achieved over 100 million yuan in revenue.

Later, encouraged by MiHoYo's founders, Mystery House began to transform online and decided to fully commit to the game industry. Mystery Games was thus established, and the studio has successively launched products such as "Mimo", "Mystery of Shanhe", and "Wodima". Among them, the reasoning game "Mystery of Shanhe" was a great success. It was officially launched in 2024, with a development cost of 15 - 20 million yuan. Surprisingly, it recouped its costs in the year of its launch, selling 550,000 copies and achieving sales of 28 million yuan. The roguelike card game "Wodima" was launched on Steam in July last year, with a positive review rate as high as 95%. It has an exclusive deal with TapTap on mobile platforms and was in an open - beta phase for bug collection in February this year and is still being refined.

"Wodima"

It is also reported that Mystery Games may have the intention to set up a subsidiary in Nanshan, Shenzhen.

As for Magic Sword Network and Apeiji Network, they have been struggling.

Magic Sword Network is a developer focusing on action games. Its founder has a history of serial entrepreneurship. The company was founded in 2018 and was favored by MiHoYo from the start. Later, it received investment from Gibit Games based on its first product, "Abyss Blade". This game was also distributed by Thunder Games under Gibit Games and once ranked among the top 40 on the iOS best - selling list. It was even praised in Gibit Games' financial report.

"Abyss Blade"

Subsequently, the company invested the money it earned into the second - generation product, "Blade Realm". After about four years of development, it entered the public beta phase at the end of 2024. However, its performance was far from ideal, only reaching a maximum ranking of 76th on the iOS best - selling list for action games.

Now, the updates on "Blade Realm" on TapTap have almost stopped for a year, "Abyss Blade" has changed its distributor, and there has been no new news from Magic Sword Network for a long time.

Apeiji Network has also been silent for a long time. This female - oriented game company was founded by the former distribution director of Papergames. In 2020, it received investments from MiHoYo, Tencent, Hypergryph, and Yostar. Its dating game, "The Last Label", attracted a lot of attention with its novel hip - hop theme and IP planning, with the playback and reading volumes of related topics reaching hundreds of millions. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of funds, the game was announced to be put on hold at the end of 2022. Although the official still updates some videos and information from time to time, it has never responded to players' questions about "whether it will make a comeback".

Extended Layout around IP

Looking at its past investments, unlike Tencent and NetEase, MiHoYo, as a major game company, is not as keen on investing in game content producers. As a company with a strong anime - style gene, it seems to prefer building an ecological closed - loop around its own IPs. For example, it deepens its layout in areas such as peripherals and cloud gaming through investments. Its investment logic is more like building a moat for its "anime - style empire".

The IP derivative business has always been a key area for MiHoYo to focus on and an important extension of its monetization ability.

As is well - known, MiHoYo's peripheral products sell very well and often appear on the best - selling lists of trendy toys on Taobao and Tmall. At the recently held 2026 Taobao and Tmall Toy and Trendy Toy Industry Conference, MiHoYo alone won five awards, including the Annual Influential Brand, Annual Influential IP, Annual Rising Brand, Annual Outstanding Product, and Annual Outstanding New Product, covering everything from the brand to game IPs and individual products.

Everyone should be aware of how popular trendy toys are these days. Take the Taobao and Tmall platforms as an example. In 2025, the transaction volume of the toy and trendy toy industry was nearly 100 billion yuan, achieving continuous growth for three years and being the best - performing year in recent years. According to industry insiders, the industry is expected to enter a period of rapid growth for the next 5 - 10 years. (Note: Taobao and Tmall define trendy toys as "all playable products based on hobbies", covering core anime - style, general anime - style, and interest circles.)

MiHoYo's ability to reap significant benefits from this market is inseparable from its early investment and forward - looking layout.

As early as 2018, MiHoYo took a stake in IPSTAR | Trendy Toy Planet, which is engaged in the operation of IP - themed stores and the sales of derivative products. The following year, Trendy Toy Planet merged with its parent company, Anime Planet, and completed a total financing of 60 million yuan, led by MiHoYo. Anime Planet has long been involved in IP - related businesses, including but not limited to IP agency, IP derivative product development and design, and IP sales. At that time, MiHoYo also stated that it "highly approves of the IP monetization solution covering the entire chain from design and production to offline sales after the merger of Trendy Toy Planet and Anime Planet".

Previously, it was reported that Anime Planet signs 40 - 50 IP licenses every year, with most IPs having a validity period of 1 - 2 years. Trendy Toy Planet develops derivative peripherals for these IPs and sells them through offline stores. It has opened offline stores in dozens of cities across the country through franchising, reaching a scale of 150 stores by the end of 2024. Among them, MiHoYo's offline experience store in Shanghai has become a popular check - in spot.

Some of the IPs Anime Planet has partnered with

Also around 2018, MiHoYo invested in Shanghai Paisi Culture, a company specializing in trendy toy collectible figures, which owns the APEX - TOYS brand. It took seven years for APEX - TOYS to become the leading company in the industry. According to a 2025 report by Shanghai Observer, the number of production - line workers at APEX has increased to 1,000. With such a scale, it can produce one million general - precision collectible figures and 400,000 high - quality collectible figures per year.

APEX has collaborated with many well - known game, anime, and even film and television IPs. MiHoYo still holds the dual roles of shareholder and major customer. In 2019, the two parties jointly created the world's first full - floating structure, 1:1 life - sized collectible figure of Yaeyama Sakura from "Honkai 3", which immediately made APEX famous. The most popular character figure from APEX is also from "Honkai 3", the figure of Elysia, with a cumulative sales volume of about 100,000 pieces. APE