HoYoverse's Bid for World Domination Could Include Anime Crossing on PS5 1
Image: Push Square

HoYoverse’s may as well take up residence inside your bank account at this point, because between Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and the upcoming Zenless Zone Zero, it’s got the income of millions of PS5 players on lock. But it’s not done yet! Rumours have been swirling for quite some time that it’s working on an Animal Crossing-esque outing, and leaked footage has added further fuel to the fire.

While we’ll refrain from sharing the footage here as we’re not sure how it was obtained, the gameplay on display certainly appears inspired by Nintendo’s cosy life sim, as a character wanders around an island shaking trees. Unsurprisingly, the developer allegedly intends to support this as a live service, with regular in-game events featuring fresh furnishings and new neighbours to befriend.

Clearly this is targeting a different demographic to the developer’s existing games, but it makes sense for the studio to cast its net wider as it looks to take a stranglehold on the console, mobile, and PC markets. We suspect, if this is real, it’s still several years away – it’s interesting to see what’s potentially going on behind-the-scenes at the studio, though.