Elon Musk tweets he ‘can’t wait’ to be in China-developed game Genshin Impact
- The game has long had a fictional female character named Ella Musk, a scholar in the virtual world
- Musk’s tweet immediately went viral on the internet, quickly logging over 100,000 likes on Twitter
Tesla CEO and founder of SpaceX Elon Musk on Thursday tweeted his support for Genshin Impact after the Chinese video game’s Shanghai-based developer miHoYo teased the world’s richest man on social media.
“Can’t wait to be in Genshin Impact”, Musk tweeted. He did not elaborate further on what he would do in relation to the adventure game.
Musk’s tweet came after Genshin Impact, one of the most popular China-developed games in the world, launched a community challenge aimed at trolling Musk on Twitter this week.
The game has long had a fictional female character named Ella Musk, a scholar in the virtual world with funny dialogue. In a bid to boost the number of Ella Musk’s Twitter followers, miHoYo said that if Ella Musk’s Twitter account managed to get 3 million followers, the company would invite Musk to stream the game. If it obtains 5 million followers, the company said it would invite Musk to visit miHoYo’s headquarters.
The community challenge caught the attention of Musk and he responded.
Musk’s tweet immediately went viral on the internet, getting over 100,000 likes on Twitter. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like equivalent, some fans interpreted this as a nod towards China’s video game development capabilities.
“The fact that Musk bothered to troll miHoYo back goes to show that Genshin Impact really has won over foreign players,” a Weibo commentator wrote.
App tracking firm Sensor Tower reported last month that Genshin Impact made more than US$2 billion in revenue within its first year of release, which has made it “one of the most successful game launches ever”.
Sensor Tower also reported this month that Genshin Impact has become the world’s top grossing game after it raked in US$341.7 million in player spending. China is the game’s biggest market followed by the US and Japan.
