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This is a timeline of miHoYo’s activities since their inception. Since some projects have multiple names, they will be referred to by multiple names throughout this timeline. This timeline contains a lot of information, but is still missing information. We will update this timeline with time and as more information is revealed. Please enjoy this insight into miHoYo’s history!
2011, September 28
FlyMe2TheMoon
A group of students develops a small game. This is the first appearance of Kiana Kaslana.
2012, February 13
miHoYo
miHoYo is founded as a company by Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao
2012, December 14
Bēng huài
Other titles: Houkai Gakuen, Zombiegal Kawaii
The first game published since miHoYo was founded. The second appearance of Kiana. Does not really feature a story.
2012, December
Angel Investment
miHoYo received an angel investment of 1 million yuan. On a business scale, this is not a huge amount, but it was enough to give a boost. It counted for a small portion of shares. miHoYo has not accepted investments since.
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4-Koma
miHoYo starts publishing a 4-koma. It is illustrated by Domotolain. She would also provide art for the game. The comic is in a traditional Japanese 4-panel format. It features Kiana and her misadventures in the zombie infested school.
2014, March 28
Bēng huài 2
Other titles: Houkai Gakuen 2, Guns GirlZ
An online single player game reusing the assets of Houkai Gakuen, and adding more production value and a story.
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Sakura World Boss
Yae Sakura is added to the game as a World Boss
2014, August
Bronya Zaychik
Bronya Zaychik is added to Benghuai 2 as a boss and later as the third playable character.
During Bronya’s chapter is also the first time Cocolia is in the story, though we don’t get to see her.
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Art Rework
The playable characters are given a new art overhaul.
Kiana Kaslana
Raiden Mei
Bronya Zaychik
2014, November 10
Halloween Special Manga
miHoYo releases a manga special focusing on Bronya. It’s the first time we get to see Cocolia.
2014, December 19
Three Year Sakura Manga
miHoYo releases a manga special focusing on Kiana. (Warning: dark sexual content)
2014, December 23
Otherworld
miHoYo teases the event Otherworld, which will introduce us to the new mysterious K.K. He is Kevin Kaslana, an alternate universe version of Kiana and the antagonist of the story.
15, February 14
EX: Sakura Arc
miHoYo’s first multichapter manga starts publishing. It focuses on the plot of Yae Sakura and Kallen Kaslana. The EX series of manga was intended to focus on fleshing out the world and characters of Benghuai 2. Notably, the plot of Sakura Arc seems to contradict the World Boss story it was based on.
2015, March
Murata Himeko
Murata Himeko is added to Benghuai 2 as a boss.
2015, February 18
EX: New Years Special
A short special featuring Kiana, Bronya, Mei, Himeko and Da Wei.
2015, May 9
EX: Sakura Arc Special
A short special featuring Kiana, Bronya, Mei, Himeko and Da Wei.
2015, June 13
EX: Sakura Arc ends, Bēng huài 3 Manga announced
miHoYo publishes the final chapter of Sakura Arc and brings the EX series to a close. They announce a new manga series is coming called Benghuai 3, with the title referring to the Third Impact. They do not specify what kind of story it will be, nor why they dropped the use of the EX title.
2015, June 20
Bēng huài 3 manga prologue: Kiana Attack
The prologue of the Houkai 3rd manga releases. The prologue references events to come in the story. It features Kiana and Himeko, and introduces the character Wendy. She is not mentioned by name.
2015, June 30
Seele Vollerei
Seele Vollerei is added to the story of Benghuai 2
2015, July 3
Bēng huài 3 manga starts
The story of the new manga begins. Bēng huài 3 (aka Houkai 3rd) reintroduces Kiana, Mei, Bronya and Himeko, as well as the Honkai beasts conceptualised before in the Prologue. The events of the story are not consistent with the game’s content, leading fans to speculate about what exactly Benghuai 3 is supposed to be,
2015, July 24
Bēng huài 3 manga special
miHoYo releases a manga special explaining the new design for Raiden Mei’s Herrscher form, as well as treating events from the Sakura EX manga as a part of Benghuai 3 canon.
2015, July 29
Sakura EX commemorative PV
miHoYo special video with images from Sakura EX with the song Double Cherry Blossom.
2015, July 31
Bēng huài 3 introduces Theresa
miHoYo releases a manga special explaining the new design for Raiden Mei’s Herrscher form, as well as treating events from the Sakura EX manga as a part of Benghuai 3 canon.
2015, August 31
Kevin Light Novel
miHoYo publishes the Kevin Light Novel which further expands upon the concepts of the multiverse, introducing a reality system which would later be built upon in both Beng Huai storylines. It also features Honkai Beasts.
2015, September 11
Bēng huài 3 closes its first arc with chapter 6
The story closes its first arc, Escape from Nagazora, with the characters enrolling in St Freya Academy.
2015, September 25
2015, September 25 – Bēng huài 3 side story: Steamy Hot Springs
Based on an older mini light novel for Benhuai 2, Benghuai 3 releases a side story. It has 29 pages.
2015, October 9
Bēng huài 3 Popularity Contest
There’s a special contest specifically for the characters featured in the Benghuai 3 manga. It includes: Kiana Kaslana, Raiden Mei, Bronya Zaychik, Murata Himeko, Theresa Apokalypse, the Adjutant (name not specified), the members of parliament (grouped together), Herrscher of Thunder, Yae Sakura, Siegfriend Kaslana, Wendy and “Middle-Aged Handsome Guy who got hit in the Kidney”.
Note: Wendy is not mentioned by name, instead called ‘Pocky Girl’. The extra information confirms the events of the prologue happen in New Zealand.
They also decide to include the Honkai Beasts Mimir and Grendal, Himeko’s Power Armour, and the USB Flashdrive that Himeko stored in her cleavage.
2015, October
Murata Himeko playable in Bēng huài 2
Murata Himeko is given a playable version in Benghuai 2
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Theresa joins the story of Bēng huài 2
Theresa is added to the game using a cutout from Benghuai 3’s 5th manga chapter.
2015, October 16
Bēng huài 3 opens its second arc with chapter 7
The story opens the second arc, Sakura Remembrance, which will focus more on Kallen and Sakura. It directly references and follows up on the Sakura EX continuity.
Its first chapter introduces Fu Hua and Welt Yang for the first time.
2015, October 30
Bēng huài 2 Official Manga Website is up
miHoYo publishes a new website with the manga and light novels, including Benghuai 3.
2015, November 27
Himouto Bronya-chan
miHoYo releases a bonus chapter for Benghuai 3. It counts 14 pages
2015, December 11
Otto Apocalypse
Otto Apocalypse is finally given a face, and introduced through the Benghuai 3 manga.
2016, February 5
Bēng huài 3 closes the Sakura Remembrance Arc
The story closes its second arc with chapter 14
2016, February 12
New Year Special
miHoYo releases a bonus chapter for Benghuai 3. It counts 21 pages, and gives a larger role to Fu Hua.
2016, February
Theresa is added as a boss sporting her new design in Bēng huài 2
2016, March 4
Mystery of Stigmata
miHoYo releases the new arc starting with chapter 15. It gives Fu Hua a larger role and introduces the plot of her mysterious identity and lack of memories. It also explains more about Stigmata and Himeko’s time limit. It also sets up the basis for the Welt clones. Additionally, it features the first appearance of Seele in this continuity.
2016, March 28
Theresa is revealed to become the next playable character in Bēng huài 2
2016, April 8
Sin Mal
Sin Mal has her debut in chapter 17 of the Benghuai 3 manga, during the Mystery of Stigmata arc.
2016, August
Bēng huài 2 has a collab with Danganronpa
2016, October 14
Bēng huài 3 (Game)
Other titles: Houkai 3rd, Honkai Impact 3rd
An online single player game continuing the story of the Benghuai 3 manga.
2016, October
Bēng huài 2 adds Sin Mal as a boss
2016, December
Bēng huài 3 Wendy
Honkai Impact 3rd reveals Wendy as the boss of Chapter 3 of the game. Set in New Zealand, the chapter tells the story the prologue of the manga was referring to. (Though the brief action scene from the manga doesn’t have a neat spot to fit into the chapter)
2017, February 16
Bēng huài 2 wraps up its first storyline
The first storyline of Benghuai 2 is wrapped up. miHoYo promptly kills off the entire cast.
2017, March
Bēng huài 2 begins the Reborn arc
The new Reborn storyline begins, and the previous one is called Chapter of Memories (Retrospective)
2017, September
Bēng huài 3 has a collab with KFC
2017, September 30
Reburn animation
miHoYo publishes its first big hybrid animation on Bilibili.
2017, November 16
Girls Frontline Collab
A two way special crossover event takes place with Girls Frontline, featuring the cast of Benghuai 2. (Cast unique to Reborn does not appear)
2018, January 25
Name changes for Chinese
miHoYo releases a statement that henceforth, certain character names will be changed. This is to avoid the characters having names of Chinese cultural significance. Servers and content outside of CN remain unaffected, and it was not universally applied.
(translation by Kiet)
2018, August 3
PROJECT:Yuánshén
miHoYo publishes the manga for Genshin Impact, starting with the prologue chapter. The chapter features a reimagined Wendy (written with different Hanzi, same sound) and mentions the name Murata. Wendy would later be translated to Venti in certain languages.
2018, December
Fu Hua is added to Bēng huài 2
Fu Hua becomes a playable character in Benghuai 2. She becomes integrated into the story as a part of the recurring cast of Benghuai 2.
Multiple skins and gears are added to the game based on content from Benghuai 3. Though the event trailers do not use the name, this is generally regarded as the first ‘HOUKAI CROSS’ event.
2019, June
Yuánshén Game Announced
miHoYo announces Genshin Impact at E3, and publishes a trailer.
The description on Bilibili reads
“The sustainer is dying, and the creator has not yet come.
But the world will not burn again, for you will ascend to the throne of “God”.”
The description on Youtube reads
“Get ready for wondrous adventures in a whole new world! Proudly presented by miHoYo — Genshin Impact — an open-world action game, is officially revealed!”
2019, August
Wendy joins Bēng huài 2
Wendy becomes a boss and story character in Benghuai 2 as the Herrscher of Wind. She does not become a playable character.
2019, December
HOUKAI Cross, Rita is added to Bēng huài 2
Rita becomes a playable character in Benghuai 2. She becomes integrated into the story as a part of the recurring cast of Benghuai 2.
Multiple skins and gears are added to the game based on content from Benghuai 3. This is advertised as a HOUKAI Cross event.
2020, July 30
Tears of Themis
2020, August 4
N0vaDesktop
miHoYo publishes a special wallpaper software featuring the virtual character Lumi, as well as still and motion wallpapers for miHoYo’s games. The software is made for PC.
2020, September 28
Yuánshén
Other titles: Genshin Impact
2020, December 1
N0vaDesktop Android
miHoYo publishes a version of the N0vaDesktop app for Android devices.
2020
miHoYo turns down Tencent
Tencent offered miHoYo an investment, but miHoYo turned it down.
2021, February
Benchmark
miHoYo confirms an income of 5 billion yuan over the past year, and President Cai Haoyu shares information about miHoYo’s goals.
Plans are underway for a virtual world that could house 1 billion people.
2021, March
Global Bunny Girl Controversy part 1
To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the Global server for Honkai Impact 3rd, miHoYo releases an exclusive animation featuring the main cast in bunny girl outfits dancing to a song from Myth&Roid.
Players on the Chinese server are upset that they did not get the event. (Anniversary event content is usually shared with other servers through festival events)
A storm of controversy begins, resulting in miHoYo being reported, as well as flooding on feedback channels and death threats. The message of ‘We want this too’ developed into ‘miHoYo is being inappropriate’.
The level of conflict reached a point where it was believed corporate meddling was involved, and a rival like Tencent may have stirred the conflict. However, no conclusive evidence was found.
2021, March 28
Bēng huài 2 celebrates its 7th anniversary
2021, April 22
Global Bunny Girl Controversy part 2
After receiving pushback, flooded feedback channels and death threats, miHoYo decides to remove the Bunny Girl video from the official Honkai Impact youtube channel, as well as cancel any of the related events. No content was stripped from the game.
Yae Sakura’s anniversary stigmata has its art changed.
2021, April 24
Assassination attempt
A man was apprehended at the site of miHoYo’s company location. The man planned to stab the founders with a knife due to frustration regarding the Bunny Girl controversy, claiming the overseas marketing stunt was inappropriate.
2021, July 12
“Flamescion Public Welfare Project”
miHoYo enters a project with China Youth Development Foundation to work together on new education programs. This includes donating a new school building.
2021, August 8
English server shutdown announcement
miHoYo announces it will shut down Benghuai 2’s global and SEA servers. Both English language servers will cease operations on October 11.
2021, September
MyApp
miHoYo manages to negotiate a deal with Tencent that will let miHoYo publish Genshin Impact on Tencent’s app store MyApp for a reduced commission price, giving 30% to the platform rather than 70%, as miHoYo wanted it to be more consistent with Western app store platforms.
2021, September 28
Genshin Anniversary debacle
Genshin Impact has its anniversary. A part of the playerbase wants more anniversary rewards, and decides to spam the official channels with an emote of Qiqi called ‘Qiqi Fallen’
Additionally, they decide to review bomb Genshin Impact on multiple platforms. This then spills over to review bombing other miHoYo apps. And eventually spills over to review bombing unrelated apps such as Clash of Clans and Google Classroom.
During the ensuing week, miHoYo sends in-game emails to the players with additional rewards that had not been announced on the stream. It is not confirmed whether or not this was planned.
A part of the rewards are the glider and furniture that had been planned as a shop bundle reward to accompany the live portion of the planned special concert. The concert was postponed indefinitely due to concerns regarding the global coVid-19 epidemic.
2021, October 5
Starfire Sonorant Concert
Benghuai 3 holds a special celebratory concert. Due to the global Covid pandemix, the concert cannot be held in front of a live audience. It is instead livestreamed in a concert hall filled with special lamps in the audience stands to create visual effects.
2021, October 5
Bēng huài: Xīng Qióng Tiě Dào announcement trailer and concept animation
At the end of the concert, miHoYo reveals a new trailer and animation for their latest upcoming title. A turn based game that spins off from Benghuai 3.
2021, October 11
English server shutdown
Benghuai 2’s Global and SEA servers shut down.
2021, November 7
English server open again
Players discover Benghuai 2’s Global server is open again. Though service has not continued and the shop and gacha do not work, a portion of players can still access their accounts.
2021, November 23
English server closed again
The Global server of Benghuai 2 closes again. No explanation was given for why it was temporarily available.
2022, January 4
Outfit Changes
To avoid trouble with guidelines, miHoYo announces the change of four characters’ outfits in Genshin Impact. The change is non-optional for players on Chinese servers due to concerns about the guidelines. On global servers, the change is non-optional for story content, but the original outfits are kept available. The changes are implemented over the course of multiple patches.
2022, February 13
HoYoverse
miHoYo establishes the global brand HoYoverse which will be used for overseas operations, and expand miHoYo’s involvement in localisation and globalisation.
2022, February 15
Winter Memories
To celebrate the winter olympics, miHoYo releases a special animation featuring the characters of Benghuai 3.
2022, February
Nuclear Fusion
miHoYo invests 400 million yuan into Energy Singularity, supporting the development of nuclear fusion as a potentially more effective alternative to nuclear fission.
2022, March 9
Bēng huài 2 opens version 9.0
Benghuai 2 enters its 9.0 version, starting the final season of the Reborn storyline.
2022, March 18
JP server rolls forward to version 9.0
2022, March 25
Bēng huài 2 has a Madoka Magica collab
The event does not feature story content.
2022, March 28
Bēng huài 2 celebrates its 8th anniversary
2022, April 21
Domotolain, the artist for the Benghuai 4-koma, passes away.
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??? – Bēng huài: Xīng Qióng Tiě Dào
Other titles: Honkai: Star Rail
