Honkai: Nexus Anima is Hoyoverse’s take on the Pokémon formula

Hoyoverse’s next game is Honkai: Nexus Anima, a creature-collecting adventure that is opening up for a beta test next month.

Singapore-based Hoyoverse announced yesterday that players can register to take part in the closed beta “Evolution test” on July 9 on iOS, Android and PC.

Players team up and battle alongside Pokémon-like companions Anima in the new title, which was first teased last summer. The July beta will be the second player test for Honkai: Nexus Anima, after a limited early “Nexus Bond Test” event in August and September of 2025.

Hoyoverse has not confirmed a full global launch window just yet. Nexus Anima will be the third game in the Honkai series after Honkai Impact 3rd and Honkai Star Rail.

As we’ve reported previously, Hoyoverse has arguably mastered the open world adventure category on mobile, but the similarities between its games have led to some cannibalisation among the player base.

In September 2023 we reported on how Honkai: Star Rail had launched to great success, hitting $1bn in in-app purchase earnings within around five months of its global launch. But in promoting Star Rail to Genshin Impact players, Hoyoverse had effectively moved many high spending players over to a game that is less effective at monetising, meaning a net drop across its portfolio.

In July 2024, we reported on how Hoyoverse’s next game, Zenless Zone Zero, risked doing the same.

Appmagic data suggests Hoyoverse has pulled in lifetime IAP earnings of nearly $8bn between its top four games combined, but the games launched since Genshin Impact have not resulted in overall earnings growth across its portfolio.

Genshin Impact ends the ways with an estimated $4.8bn since launch in September 2020, followed by Honkai: Star Rail with $1.8bn since it arrived in April 2023.

Honkai Impact 3rd, launched in September 2016, has earned an estimated ~$884m to date, and Zenless Zone Zero has pulled in around $420m since it launched in June 2024.

Hoyoverse is also working on an Animal Crossing-like game called Petit Planet, which has been in and out of soft launch and other testing in recent months.