The Hurun Research Institute has released its sixth annual Global Unicorn Index, which ranks private companies and startups worth at least $1 billion. Genshin Impact maker miHoYo became the most valuable game developer on the list.
Genshin Impact
As the Hurun Research Institute explained in a post, the ranking only takes into account companies founded in the 2000s and not yet listed on a public exchange. “The cut-off was 1 January 2024, with significant changes in valuation updated up to the date of release,” it noted.
miHoYo, valued at $23 billion, ranked 12th — right between Citadel Securities ($22 billion) and Telegram ($30 billion). The Genshin Impact developer climbed 91 positions from 2023, when its market cap was valued at $7.2 billion.
ByteDance once again topped the ranking with a valuation of $220 billion (up 10% year-over-year), followed by SpaceX ($180 billion), OpenAI ($100 billion), Ant Group ($80 billion), and Shein ($65 billion).
Top 15 global “unicorns” in 2024 (via the Hurun Research Institute)
Overall, there are 27 companies on the list that the Hurun Research Institute classify as part of the games industry (note that while firms like ByteDance may own some titles or have publishing divisions, gaming isn’t their core business):
- miHoYo (12th) — $23 billion;
- Niantic (67th) — $9 billion;
- Dream11 (83rd) — $8 billion;
- Haegin (83rd) — $8 billion;
- Animoca Brands (135th) — $5.9 billion;
- Moon Active (157th) — $5 billion;
- Scopely (172th) — $4.9 billion;
- Sorare (193rd) — $4.3 billion;
- Duoyi (243rd) — $3.8 billion;
- Rec Room (270th) — $3.5 billion;
- Improbable (287th) — $3.4 billion;
- Lilith (314th) — $3.1 billion;
- Sky Mavis (320th) — $3 billion;
- Wildlife Studios (320th) — $3 billion;
- Dream Games (385th) — $2.8 billion;
- Games 24X7 (422th) — $2.5 billion;
- Mobile Premier League (482th) — $2.3 billion;
- VNG (495th) — $2.2 billion;
- Boke (537th) — $2 billion;
- Thatgamecompany (634th) — $1.9 billion;
- Voodoo (634th) — $1.9 billion;
- Kuro Games (680th) — $1.7 billion;
- Vspn (680th) — $1.7 billion;
- 1047 Games (759th) — $1.5 billion;
- Tripledot (846th) — $1.4 billion;
- Mythical Games (911th) — $1.3 billion;
- Playco (1118th) — $1 billion.