The mobile gaming landscape continues to be shaped by HoYoverse’s twin goliaths, and newly surfaced data from Sensor Tower reveals a fascinating snapshot of how Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact performed in May 2024. While both titles experienced month-over-month declines, Honkai: Star Rail claimed the top spot with an estimated $87.3 million in global revenue, dwarfing Genshin Impact’s $53.3 million for the same period. This gap—despite a 25% drop from Star Rail’s own April total of $119 million—demonstrates the intense competition between the two RPGs and the fickle nature of gacha-driven income.

The numbers, initially shared by Reddit analyst babu0poke and widely discussed across community forums, highlight how banner scheduling can wildly swing a game’s monthly revenue. For context, Genshin Impact suffered a staggering 55% drop from its $120 million April, a period fueled almost entirely by the long-awaited debut of Arlecchino, the Fourth of the Fatui Harbingers. Even though Arlecchino’s banner ran well into May, the bulk of her sales occurred during the first week of her release on April 24. This is a well-known pattern in the gacha business: dedicated spenders front-load their investment, leaving the tail end of a banner cycle to rely on free-to-play savers and latecomers.

Why Star Rail Pulled Ahead

Several factors contributed to Honkai: Star Rail’s dominance in May 2024. First, Version 2.2 launched with two highly anticipated five-star characters—Robin, the Halovian songstress whose support capabilities reshaped the meta, and Boothill, a cyborg cowboy with a unique Physical break damage kit. The fact that both of their limited banners overlapped entirely within May gave players a concentrated window to spend. In contrast, Genshin Impact’s Version 4.6 had already exhausted most of its hype with Arlecchino’s early spike, and the second half of the patch featured reruns of Xiao and Yae Miko, which historically generate less fervor than a brand-new character.

Second, the player base overlap between the two HoYoverse titles cannot be overstated. Many commenters on the original Reddit thread pointed out that the Arlecchino release likely cannibalized Star Rail’s April revenue, as players diverted their entertainment budgets to Fontaine’s cunning diplomat. By May, however, those same users had shifted back to the Astral Express. The ebb and flow of spending between sister games is something HoYoverse has mastered, staggering content drops so that one title rarely completely overshadows the other for too long.

Genshin Impact’s Path Forward

Investors and fans alike will be watching to see if Genshin Impact can rebound. The Version 4.7 update, which went live on June 5, 2024, introduced three new characters: Clorinde, the formidable Champion Duelist; Sigewinne, the Melusine nurse from the Fortress of Meropide; and the desert-born four-star bow user Sethos. Early social media sentiment suggested all three could drive substantial revenue, especially Clorinde, whose electro-DPS playstyle had been teased since the Fontaine Archon Quests. However, the true test is whether the combined appeal of these units can match the concentrated punch of two fresh five-stars in a single month.

The Bigger Picture in 2026

Looking back from today’s perspective in 2026, the May 2024 revenue chart feels like a minor footnote in HoYoverse’s ever-expanding portfolio. Since then, the company has launched Zenless Zone Zero and continued to evolve Genshin Impact through the Natlan chapters, while Honkai: Star Rail has pushed into galaxies far beyond Penacony. Yet the underlying business mechanics remain unchanged: banner timing, character popularity, and the delicate dance between its own games still dictate quarterly earnings.

Below is a quick comparison of the May 2024 data for the two titles:

Metric	Honkai: Star Rail	Genshin Impact
May 2024 Revenue	$87.3 million	$53.3 million
April 2024 Revenue	$119 million	$120 million
Month-over-Month Change	▼ ~27%	▼ ~55%
Key New Characters in May	Robin, Boothill (2.2)	Reruns: Xiao, Yae Miko

What Made Boothill and Robin Special

Boothill’s arrival was emblematic of how Honkai: Star Rail has courted a slightly different audience than Genshin Impact. His kit, centered around collecting Trick Shots to unleash a devastating single-target break nuke, offered a refreshingly straightforward playstyle. Meanwhile, Robin’s team-wide buffs and ultimate that allowed allies to take extra turns immediately became a staple in hypercarry and dual-DPS compositions alike. Together, they represented the dual strategy of appealing to both lore enthusiasts—Boothill’s backstory as a Galaxy Ranger seeking vengeance—and meta-chasers who analyzed every multiplier.

Conclusion

While May 2024 saw Honkai: Star Rail convincingly outpace its older sibling, the narrative was less about one game “beating” the other and more about the rhythm of live-service monetization. The revenue chart underscores a simple truth: in the world of gacha, a single well-timed banner can bank more than an entire version cycle of reruns. HoYoverse, now a titan of the industry, seems to understand this cadence better than anyone, ensuring that even when its games dip, they still manage to dominate the top spots.

By 2026, both titles have evolved far beyond their 2024 selves, but the May snapshot remains a classic case study in mobile gaming economics—one that analysts and developers continue to dissect.