HoYo Fest returned with a bang for its 2024 edition.
HoYoverse’s yearly HoYo Fest has begun! The GosuGamers team went to the different HoYo Fest events in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore to partake in the latest annual fan celebration event of our favourite HoYoverse games. Here’s how our experiences went.
HoYo Fest Malaysia 2024
HoYo Fest Malaysia was held in Pavilion Bukit Jalil, a fairly new and only semi-popular mall in Kuala Lumpur, whose Centre Court proved surprisingly adequate for a passionate but not overwhelming crowd of attendees. We visited the event on a Tuesday afternoon, but found its long queues - mainly concentrated on the Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero booths - pretty manageable. As long as you were willing to brave a forty-minute queue, you could clear each of the booth’s activities without much hassle.
The event held booths for all of HoYoverse’s games: Tears of Themis, Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. Visitors can collect stamps from each of the booths to snap an exclusive Hoyo Fest polaroid, which isn’t hard to do. Activities can range from doling out game trivia to simply sharing pictures of the booths on social media, and the queues get a lot lighter towards the end of the day. In fact, we noticed booths like Genshin Impact having no queues at all by 5-6pm.
Even the merch line thinned out throughout the day, with most visitors leaving the event cheerfully touting HoYo Fest-themed merch bags. The absence of Zenless Zone Zero merch was sorely felt, considering it was one of the more popular booths at the event. We were told by on-ground staff that this came down to the event happening so soon after the game’s launch, leaving HoYoverse little time to put some merch together. Fingers crossed for next year, then.
That being said, this year’s iteration of HoYo Fest in Malaysia doesn’t feel so much like a festival as it does an elaborate series of pop-ups. Perhaps that’s because the event is located in one of the region’s less popular malls, or because it lacked an Artist Alley. Most of the excitement surrounding HoYo Fest this year was brought on by its visitors, but they just weren’t given enough opportunities to convey it.
Additional reporting by Tim Augustin
The first Artist Alley of HoYo FEST 2024 in Indonesia
Hoyo Fest Indonesia was both a delight and a curse simultaneously. After being held inside Mall Artha Gading on their 2023 iteration, the 2024 version took the event into South Jakarta in Gandaria City Mall. This time, however, the event didn’t occupy the mall's centre but inside the La Piazza section. As its name suggests, the place was semi-open, with booths of Hoyoverse games circling the centre stage. A disclaimer before we jump into our experience: We visited the event on a Saturday afternoon.
First, let’s talk about the curse. The curse, you guessed it, was the queue line. The line for the event stretched all the way into the mall's parking lot. This was expected as the last iteration had the same number of lengthy queues. However, what was different was that there were five lengthy queues this time.
We spent approximately 45 minutes waiting in the queue until we finally got inside the event. Hoyoverse actually gave us a special pass so we could skip the first line for the events. We didn’t, however, use this pass as we tried to feel the authentic event queueing experience. We can assure you it wasn’t pleasant at all, as the parking lot was an open space area in the middle of the day, and the scorching sun blessed us with its warm inferno.
However, things got nicer when we cleared the first queue. The inside of the event was a beautiful open space with terrace cafes circling the event and booths circling the centre stages. We didn’t visit the booths as we didn’t want to snatch a freebie from everyone else participating. The only booth that we visited was the Merchandise booth, where we got ourselves the signature HoyoFest acrylic standee. The queue for the merchandise booth was nicer as you got numbers so you could visit the other booths before waiting for our turn.
The main selling point of Hoyofest ID was the inclusion of an Artist Alley in the event. This is the first time Hoyofest has included independent creators (or, in this case, artists) to showcase and sell their art at the venue. The Artist Alley, however, didn’t open every day. It was only open on weekends from 10-11 August 2024 and 17-18 August 2024. And as promised, a lot of fan-made art was showcased and sold at the venue. There was also a booth for Larissa Rochefort, a famous cosplayer from Indonesia, at the venue.
Overall, it was a delightful experience, showing great potential in Indonesia’s market. Perhaps when they return for the next iteration, Hoyofest will have a bigger venue, as the current one was too tight for the number of people attending the event.
Additional reporting by Tommy Makmur
HoYo Fest Philippines 2024
HoYo Fest has been one of the most eagerly anticipated gaming events since its inception in 2021, and the Philippines continues to impress the developers at HoYoverse with the immense love and enthusiasm for their games.
Building on the success of previous years, HoYo Fest 2024, which was held at SM Megamall’s Mega Fashion Hall event area, continued off of its 2023 edition, which expanded to a larger, more accommodating venue to handle the expected influx of excited fans, moving away from the smaller, cozy café and restaurant collaborations in its first 2 years.
This year's event featured four major booths, three of which were dedicated to HoYoverse’s major titles: Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and the newly released Zenless Zone Zero. The fourth booth was focused on merchandise sales. Unfortunately, their first breakout hit Honkai Impact 3rd did not have an extravagant booth this time around, while Tears of Themis did not even have a booth at all.
HoYo Fest 2024 appeared to have learned from last year's issues with line management and crowd control, particularly at the merchandise booth, which was the source of much frustration in 2023.
However, despite these improvements, the system still struggled to accommodate the large number of fans eager to purchase HoYoverse-themed merchandise. It seemed as if the queue could go on for miles, and at some point even reached the adjacent building of the event area. While this challenge remains, it underscores a positive trend: HoYoverse games continue to thrive in cultivating a dedicated and eager fan base.
Booths and Activities at HoYofest PH
HoYofest Philippines featured booths for HoYoverse’s popular games: Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ), and a smaller one for Honkai Impact 3rd. The merchandise area, set backstage, drew fans eager to purchase official merch.
At the Genshin Impact booth, visitors could take photos with cosplayers, participate in quizzes, and receive Primogems and small in-game souvenirs. These activities were popular among fans.
The Honkai: Star Rail booth offered similar experiences. Players could line up to take selfies, present their UID, and receive free Stellar Jades and an inflatable PomPom. However, the offerings were similar to last year’s HoYofest.
The Zenless Zone Zero booth, despite being focused on a newly launched game, felt like a rehash of last year’s HoYofest. Visitors could line up to try the game, but the overall excitement was noticeably lower. The booth assistants were present but seemed less engaged, likely due to the longer lines earlier in the week. The booth itself lacked creativity, offering little more than the basic game trial, and missed an opportunity to tap into the game’s 90s-inspired vibe. The setup and activities didn’t differ much from last year, leaving some attendees underwhelmed.
The Honkai Impact 3rd booth was simpler, featuring a standee and a roulette game, operational when cosplayers were present. Despite its simplicity, it attracted dedicated fans.
The stage hosted daily activities, including game-themed events and trivia. The merchandise area was a significant draw, and while line management was generally effective, some attendees were disappointed by the lack of Zenless Zone Zero merchandise.
Additional reporting by Anna Bernardo
HoYo Fest 2024 in Singapore
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Coming a long way from its initial pandemic-era cafe days, HoYo Fest shed the confines of a convention hall for the broad atrium of Singapore's Suntec City for its 2024 iteration. With the addition of the newest member of the HoYo gang, Zenless Zone Zero, this year's HoYo Fest drew snaking crowds for each of its four main titles, with several even donning the costumes of their favourite characters.
The Genshin Impact community were out in force to snag hard-to-find merch - the last piece of the Statue of Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, God of Thunder, was snapped up while we weren't looking - but the other HoYo games weren't to be outdone, with a giant Pom Pom doing dance offs with visitors and ZZZ demos available for those who had yet to convert to Bangboo supremacy. Even the oldest of the lot, Honkai Impact 3rd, still had many excited visitors queuing to spin a wheel for exclusive swag.
Unshackled from the pre-requisite of needing an AFA ticket, we wouldn't have been surprised if the queues drew some unsuspecting uncles and aunties just joining for the free stuff (a true Singapore pastime). HoYo Fest has certainly evolved, and coming to a major mall in Singapore puts in on a par with its regional counterparts, elevating the HoYo titles beyond the screens of fans and to the many passers-by.
Additional reporting by Gelly Panda
What's in store for HoYo Fest in the future?
Overall, it seems like HoYo Fest continues to shine as an exceptional event made for HoYoverse fans. Of course, The other countries are pretty jealous of Indonesia and Vietnam because of that exclusive HoYoverse Artist Alley. Maybe next year other countries can get to have one too, who knows!
A common opinion our writers have shared is the ever-enduring queueing problems that has haunted HoYo Fest since it broke away from restaurant and cafe collaborations. Of course we can't expect every solution to be a hundred percent workable in practice, but maybe a better set-up and guidelines could be implemented for HoYo Fest 2025.
But despite the lines and the weather, it's pretty evident that the community HoYoverse has fostered within their fanbase has consistently pulled through to make HoYo Fest a one-of-a-kind experience.