1. Bibliographic Information

• Title: The Operation Strategy of the Game IP "Genshin Impact" in the SIPS Model (Original: SIPS模型视角下游戏IP《原神》的运营策略)
• Authors: Jiahui Li (李嘉慧)
• Affiliations: School of Law and Humanities, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
• Journal/Conference: The paper is published by Hans Publishers (汉斯出版社) in the journal E-Commerce Letters (电子商务评论).
  • Commentary on Venue: Hans Publishers is an open-access publisher that primarily serves the Chinese academic community. In the broader international academic context, its journals are generally not considered top-tier and are sometimes viewed with skepticism regarding their peer-review rigor. However, they serve as a platform for students and researchers to publish their findings.
• Publication Year: The paper indicates receipt and acceptance dates in late 2024, with a publication date of January 13, 2025.
• Abstract: The paper analyzes the operational strategy of the popular game Intellectual Property (IP) Genshin Impact. It uses the SIPS model—a framework for understanding user behavior in the social media era—to examine the strategy from four perspectives: Sympathize, Identify, Participate, and Share & Spread. The goal is to understand the psychological and behavioral shifts of users in the modern media landscape and to offer insights for other IP creation and operation initiatives.
• Original Source Link: https://pdf.hanspub.org/ecl2025141_1362312537.pdf
• Publication Status: Formally published in an open-access journal.

2. Executive Summary

• Background & Motivation (Why):

  • Core Problem: In the modern digital and social media era, traditional marketing models are less effective. There is a need to understand how successful new media products, like the game Genshin Impact, build and sustain a massive, engaged user base.
  • Importance & Gaps: Genshin Impact has achieved phenomenal global success, becoming a major cultural IP. While much research has focused on its game design or cultural output, there is a gap in analyzing its operational and marketing strategy through a modern, user-centric communication framework. The paper aims to fill this gap by applying the SIPS model.
  • Fresh Angle: The paper's novelty lies in using the SIPS model as a lens to deconstruct Genshin Impact's success. This shifts the focus from the product itself to the dynamic, interactive relationship between the brand and its users, which is central to marketing in the age of social media.

• Main Contributions / Findings (What):

  • Primary Contribution: The paper provides a structured case study of Genshin Impact's IP operation strategy, mapping its specific tactics to the four stages of the SIPS model.
  • Key Findings: The success of Genshin Impact is not accidental but a result of a well-executed strategy that aligns perfectly with modern user behavior:
    1. Sympathize: It creates deep emotional resonance through rich storytelling and compelling character design.
    2. Identify: It builds trust and confirms its value through targeted advertising, collaboration with opinion leaders (KOLs), and continuous service optimization.
    3. Participate: It fosters a vibrant participatory culture by encouraging user-generated content and hosting immersive offline events that strengthen community bonds.
    4. Share & Spread: It amplifies its reach through in-game social features and strategic cross-brand collaborations, turning users into brand advocates.
  • The paper concludes with actionable recommendations for other IPs, emphasizing the need for continuous content innovation, strengthening social features, and leveraging technology.

3. Prerequisite Knowledge & Related Work

• Foundational Concepts:

  • IP (Intellectual Property): In this context, an IP refers to a creative work (like a game, a movie, or a character) that has a distinct identity and can be licensed or expanded into other forms, such as merchandise, spin-offs, and collaborations. Genshin Impact is not just a game but a massive IP with characters, music, and lore that form its brand.
  • SIPS Model: This is the core theoretical framework of the paper. It describes consumer behavior in the social media era, arguing that the relationship between brands and consumers is no longer a one-way street but a continuous, interactive loop. It evolved from older models:
    • AIDMA Model (Traditional Media Era): Attention → Interest → Desire → Memory → Action. This was a linear process where consumers were passive recipients of advertising.
    • AISAS Model (Internet Era): Attention → Interest → Search → Action → Share. The internet added the "Search" and "Share" steps, acknowledging that consumers actively seek information and share their experiences online.
    • SIPS Model (Social Media Era): This model repositions the entire process around a two-way, emotional connection.
      1. Sympathize (共鸣): The initial connection is not just about "attention" but about creating an emotional resonance or shared feeling with the user. The brand's message must align with the user's values or experiences.
      2. Identify (确认): Users actively verify the information and value of a product/brand. They consult reviews, ask friends, and follow KOLs to build trust. It's a process of confirming the initial sympathy.
      3. Participate (参与): Based on sympathy and identification, users move beyond passive consumption to active participation. This can include joining community events, creating content (fan art, videos), or contributing to discussions. This deepens their connection to the brand.
      4. Share & Spread (共享扩散): Satisfied and engaged users naturally become advocates. They share their experiences, creations, and recommendations within their social networks, creating a viral loop that attracts new users.

• Previous Works:

  • The paper notes that the SIPS model has been applied to diverse fields like rural revitalization (analyzing how to promote rural areas), short video marketing, and library promotion. This demonstrates the model's versatility in analyzing communication strategies.
  • Existing research on Genshin Impact has primarily focused on:
    • Game Design: Analysis of its open-world mechanics and in-game events (e.g., festival spaces).
    • Cultural Influence: Its role in exporting Chinese culture (e.g., the use of traditional opera elements) and building cultural symbol systems.
    • User Interaction: The interplay between music, game scenes, and user experience.

• Differentiation: The author positions this paper as distinct from prior work by focusing specifically on the IP operation and marketing strategy of Genshin Impact. Instead of analyzing the game's internal content, it analyzes the external-facing strategies used to build and grow its user base, using the SIPS model as a novel analytical tool for this specific IP.

4. Methodology (Core Technology & Implementation)

This paper employs a qualitative case study methodology. The "core technology" is not a computational algorithm but the SIPS analytical framework, which is used to structure the analysis of Genshin Impact's operational strategies. The author collects evidence from publicly available information about the game's marketing campaigns, community activities, and business model to illustrate each stage of the SIPS process.

The analysis is broken down into the four stages of the SIPS model:

• Stage 1: Sympathize (情感共鸣 - Emotional Resonance)

  • Principle: Create a deep emotional connection with users to spark initial interest.
  • Implementation by Genshin Impact:
    1. Rich Storytelling: The game features an elaborate plot that users cannot skip, ensuring immersion. The narrative of regions like Liyue (based on ancient China) and characters like Yun Jin (an opera artist) integrates cultural elements, such as the widely praised opera piece 神女劈观 (Divine Damsel of Devastation). This story of a character's journey from isolation to bravery resonates with players' real-life emotions.
    2. Compelling Character Design: Characters are not just gameplay tools but fully fleshed-out personas with birthdays, backstories, and distinct personalities. This encourages players to form emotional attachments, leading to activities like celebrating character birthdays, engaging in cosplay, and developing a desire to "collect" and "nurture" them.

• Stage 2: Identify (价值确认 - Value Confirmation)

  • Principle: Build trust and allow users to verify the brand's value through multiple channels.
  • Implementation by Genshin Impact:
    1. Targeted Audience and Service Optimization: Genshin Impact targets young audiences and the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) community. Advertisements are placed strategically in subways of major cities and online on platforms like Bilibili and Weibo, where their target demographic congregates. The game also constantly updates content and refines its narrative perspective to maintain the interest of existing players, thus reinforcing its value.
    2. Leveraging Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs): The game collaborates with and nurtures a large ecosystem of content creators (UP masters on Bilibili). These KOLs create tutorials, lore analyses, and gameplay streams. Potential new players watch these creators, whose endorsement and enthusiasm help confirm the game's quality and value, building trust more effectively than traditional ads.

• Stage 3: Participate (参与互动 - Interactive Participation)

  • Principle: Move users from passive consumption to active engagement with the brand and community.
  • Implementation by Genshin Impact:
    1. Facilitating Participatory Culture: The game's rich content serves as raw material for user-generated content (二创 or derivative works). The opera piece 神女劈观 sparked a massive wave of fan creations on Bilibili, from covers by professional opera singers to analytical videos and memes. This transforms users from consumers into co-creators of the IP's culture.
    2. Immersive Offline Events: Genshin Impact organizes large-scale offline events like the Genshin FES (Genshin Festival) and pop-up theme stores. These events bring the virtual world to life, allowing fans to meet, interact, purchase merchandise, and participate in game-themed activities. This strengthens their sense of community and provides a tangible connection to the IP.

• Stage 4: Share & Spread (共享扩散 - Sharing and Diffusion)

  • Principle: Empower and encourage engaged users to become brand advocates, driving organic growth.
  • Implementation by Genshin Impact:
    1. Word-of-Mouth via Social Gameplay: The game's co-op mode allows players to invite friends into their world to tackle challenges together. This social feature encourages players to recommend the game to their friends, transforming real-world social connections into in-game ones. The social design is low-pressure, which appeals to modern users who may experience "social fatigue."
    2. Brand Collaborations for "Circle Breaking": Genshin Impact engages in numerous high-profile collaborations with brands in different sectors, including fast food (KFC, Pizza Hut), beverages (HeyTea), electronics (Xiaomi, OnePlus), and even cars (Cadillac). This "co-branding" strategy breaks the IP out of the gaming niche, exposing it to a broader audience and creating widespread market buzz. It achieves a 1 + 1 > 2 effect, expanding the influence of both brands.

5. Experimental Setup

As this is a qualitative study based on an analytical framework, it does not have a traditional experimental setup with datasets, metrics, and baselines.

• "Data" Source: The "data" consists of the publicly observable operational and marketing activities of Genshin Impact from its launch in 2020 to the time of writing (late 2024). This includes:
  • In-game content and design choices (story, characters, social modes).
  • Official marketing campaigns (advertisements, social media presence).
  • Community activities (user-generated content trends, forum discussions).
  • Offline events (Genshin FES, theme cafes).
  • Business strategies (brand collaborations, monetization model).
• "Evaluation Method": The author evaluates the effectiveness of these activities by mapping them to the stages of the SIPS model and correlating them with the game's widely acknowledged success in terms of user base, revenue, and cultural impact. The analysis is interpretative and illustrative, not quantitative.
• Baselines: No formal baselines are used. The comparison is implicitly made against traditional marketing models (like AIDMA) that the SIPS model has superseded.

6. Results & Analysis

The paper's analysis is presented in two main parts: the IP's general operational characteristics and the detailed breakdown according to the SIPS model.

• Core Operational Characteristics & Success Metrics (Section 3):

  • 無障礙 (Barrier-Free): Multi-platform Accessibility: Genshin Impact is available on PC, mobile (iOS/Android), and PlayStation with seamless cross-progression. This lowers the barrier to entry, allowing users to play anytime, anywhere, on their preferred device, which significantly broadens its potential user base.
  • 無套路 (No Tricks): Transparent Business Model: The game follows a "Free-to-Play + In-app Purchases" model. The core game is free, removing any initial payment barrier. Monetization is primarily through an optional gacha system (drawing for characters/weapons). This model is transparent, and players can enjoy the vast majority of the content without spending money, which builds long-term trust and user loyalty.
  • Operational Effectiveness: The author substantiates the IP's success with evidence:
    • User Scale: Over 218 million mobile downloads globally (as of 2024), a massive and active Weibo community (11.96 million followers), and large-scale attendance at offline events like Genshin FES.
    • Media Exposure: Featured multiple times on state-run media like CCTV for its cultural exports (神女劈观 on a CCTV New Year's gala) and its creation of new job roles. It also received a special report from CGTN, boosting its international prestige.
    • Positive Reputation: The game is well-regarded for its high-quality art, music, and story. The company also maintains a positive feedback loop with its community, using surveys after events to adjust future content, thereby maintaining high user satisfaction.

• Analysis through the SIPS Framework (Section 4): This section, detailed under Methodology, forms the core analytical result of the paper. It successfully demonstrates how Genshin Impact's diverse strategies can be cohesively understood through the SIPS lens, showing a deliberate and effective process of engaging users from initial emotional connection to final brand advocacy.

7. Conclusion & Reflections

• Conclusion Summary: The paper concludes that the success of the Genshin Impact IP is a testament to a modern, user-centric operational strategy that aligns with the SIPS model. It effectively builds emotional connections (Sympathize), establishes trust (Identify), fosters community (Participate), and leverages its user base for organic growth (Share & Spread). The author presents this as a valuable template for other cultural and creative industries in the digital age.

• Limitations & Future Work (Author's Perspective): The author provides three key recommendations for the future operation of Genshin Impact and other IPs, which can be interpreted as areas needing continuous attention:

  1. Sustain Content Innovation: To maintain user interest, the IP must consistently deliver high-quality content, including new gameplay, stories, and meaningful cultural integrations. The author warns against sacrificing quality for speed.
  2. Enhance Social Attributes: Deepen both online (co-op, community forums) and offline (events, meetups) social interactions to strengthen the community's sense of belonging.
  3. Leverage Technological Advantages: Use data analytics for personalized services and explore emerging technologies like VR and AR to create more immersive experiences, staying ahead of the curve.

• Personal Insights & Critique:

  • Strengths:
    • The paper provides an excellent and accessible framework for understanding a complex marketing phenomenon. The SIPS model is applied clearly and systematically, making it easy for a beginner to grasp why Genshin Impact's strategies are so effective.
    • It correctly identifies the shift from product-centric to user-relationship-centric marketing, which is a crucial insight for anyone in the creative industries today.
    • The use of specific, well-known examples (like 神女劈观 and KFC collaboration) makes the analysis concrete and relatable.
  • Limitations & Weaknesses:
    • Lack of Critical Depth: The analysis is overwhelmingly positive and descriptive. It does not engage with potential criticisms of Genshin Impact, such as the predatory nature of gacha monetization, issues of "crunch" in its development cycle, or instances of community backlash. A more rigorous academic paper would present a more balanced view.
    • Confirmatory Bias: The paper presents the SIPS model as a perfect explanation for success, without questioning the model's limitations or considering alternative factors (e.g., sheer marketing budget, first-mover advantage in the high-quality open-world gacha space).
    • No Primary Data: The analysis is based entirely on secondary sources and public knowledge. It would have been strengthened by primary research, such as player surveys, interviews with marketing staff, or deeper data analysis of community engagement.
    • Publisher Reputation: As mentioned, the journal's publisher is not top-tier, which may suggest a less stringent peer-review process. This doesn't invalidate the findings but is a relevant contextual factor for assessing its academic contribution.