Genshin Impact developer Mihoyo is opening a new studio in Montreal to work on its next big title. This Canadian studio, which will be hiring upwards of 100 developers over the next couple of years, will be working on a brand-new, open-world shooter from the developer. While details right now are scarce, the new game will supposedly take place within a paranormal world.
In a post to LinkedIn, the developer announced the creation of its first North American site and gave some details on what those hired in Montreal would be doing. According to the post, “the Canada team will work closely with the global development team and focus on creating a brand-new AAA open-world action-adventure game featuring shooting-based gameplay within a living, breathing paranormal world”. Beyond that short description, nothing else is known about the game, but a look at the positions Mihoyo is trying to fill within the new studio may offer some clues.
On the developer's career page, there are several new job listings for the studio. One such listing is for a level designer whose responsibilities will include the design of a “whole road network in open world with urban area and wilderness” as well as the design of “vehicle tracks for racing, chasing, or other kinds of gameplay”. Another listing for a senior technical artist shows that the game will feature a destruction system that “plays a very central role” within the new game.
While it is hard to tell what this open-world shooter set within a paranormal world will look like, it sounds as if the game will be quite different from Mihoyo’s current titles. The Chinese video game developer is probably best known for its action role-playing gacha game — Genshin Impact. This game proved to be a massive hit for the developer, raking in over $100 million in less than two weeks. This title was followed up by the free-to-play otome adventure game Tears of Themis. Dubbed a "romance detective game", Themis saw players assume the role of a detective who works with their lover to solve strange crimes. Finally, Mihoyo is currently hard at work on another JRPG, Honkai: Star Rail, which has no official release date. This game will be part of the sci-fi Honkai series and there are several planned betas in the near future.