Revision 2

HoYoverse is the international publishing brand of miHoYo, operated through Cognosphere Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based subsidiary established in 2021. The HoYoverse brand was publicly announced on February 14, 2022, and handles all game publishing and marketing outside Greater China. For Varsapura, HoYoverse will manage the international release while miHoYo develops the game at its Shanghai headquarters.

Corporate structure

Cognosphere Pte. Ltd. is a legally separate entity from Shanghai miHoYo Network Technology Co., Ltd., though they share ownership. The Singapore incorporation gives HoYoverse a neutral international base for global operations. Cognosphere holds the publishing rights and manages localization, community management, and customer support for all titles released outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Published titles

HoYoverse publishes these games internationally:

• Honkai Impact 3rd (2016), a third-person action game with anime-style combat

• Genshin Impact (2020), the open-world action RPG that brought miHoYo global recognition

• Tears of Themis (2021), a romance mystery visual novel

• Honkai: Star Rail (2023), a turn-based RPG set in the Honkai universe

• Zenless Zone Zero (2024), an urban action RPG with stylized combat

Varsapura will be added to this lineup once it reaches release. Given the game's scope and Unreal Engine 5 foundation, HoYoverse's marketing approach may differ from its previous launches, which all used Unity-based engines.

Global offices

HoYoverse operates offices in multiple cities:

• Singapore (headquarters for Cognosphere, based in Jurong East since July 2022, occupying approximately 28,000 square feet)

• Montreal (game development and QA)

• Los Angeles (marketing and community)

• Tokyo (Japanese market operations)

• Seoul (Korean market operations)

The Singapore headquarters is particularly relevant to Varsapura because the City of Rain is modeled on Singapore itself. Having local staff familiar with the city's layout, culture, and language mix gives the team an advantage in ensuring the setting feels authentic.

Role in Varsapura

HoYoverse's responsibilities for Varsapura include localization into multiple languages, international marketing campaigns, community management through official social media channels, and distribution through storefronts like Steam, Epic Games Store, and console platforms. The 31-minute gameplay demo already included English voice acting, suggesting localization work is underway even during early development.

Relationship with miHoYo

The split between miHoYo (development, Chinese publishing) and HoYoverse (international publishing) mirrors how many Chinese game companies operate. NetEase and Tencent use similar structures. For players outside China, HoYoverse is the primary point of contact for support, events, and community interaction. The development decisions, including game design, art direction, and technical implementation, remain with the miHoYo team in Shanghai.