Genshin Impact

miHoYo delivered a full open-world action RPG — with Breath of the Wild-quality exploration — for free on mobile. Genshin Impact generated $4 billion in its first two years and maintains a staggering content pipeline with new regions, characters, and storylines every six weeks. Yes, the gacha monetization is aggressive, but the base game offers hundreds of hours without spending a dime. It redefined what a mobile game could be.