Zenless Zone Zero

About

Zenless Zone Zero is an upcoming free-to-play action-roleplaying video game by Hoyoverse, the company best known for Genshin Impact. The game was announced on Twitter in May 2022 and went into closed beta testing in August of that year.

History

On May 8th, 2022, the official Zenless Zone Zero Twitter^[1] page, @ZZZ_EN, posted a tweent announcing the game and linking to its official website,^[2] garnering over 19,000 likes and 3,000 retweets in three months. On May 13th, a trailer for the game was posted by YouTuber Gamespot Trailers, garnering over 265,000 views in three months (shown below).

Tuning Test

On May 13th, 2022, Hoyoverse^[3] announced a "tuning test" sign-up. On August 4th, the tuning test became available. It was announced on Twitter^[4] that day, garnering over 11,000 likes in four days. A trailer for the tuning test was also posted to YouTube,^[5] gaining over 892,000 views in the same span of time (shown below).

After the tuning test went live, several gaming channels uploaded videos showcasing the gameplay. On August 4th, YouTuber^[6] MELOO posted an over seven-hour long video of the game, gaining over 57,000 views in four days (shown below). The testing server was taken offline on August 8th.

Gameplay

Zenless Zone Zero takes place in the fictional city New Eridu, the last surviving human city. In the game, players take on the role of a "Proxy," someone who can enter dimensional rifts called "Hollows" filled with monsters called "Ethereals" which have largely caused the destruction of the world. The gameplay involves choosing a squad of Proxys, entering Hollows and fighting Ethereals in an action-RPG style similar to games like Nier.

Online Presence

On March 25th, 2022, the /r/ZZZ_Official^[7] subreddit was started, acquiring over 11,000 members in five months.

Fan Art

After the game was announced, people began drawing fan art based on the game's trailers and promotional content. Some of the most popular fan art depicts the characters from the game. For example, on May 13th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @yolanda315732 posted a piece of art based on a cat eared character named Unagi from the game, gaining over 1,300 likes in three months (shown below, left). On August 1st, Twitter^[9] user @yedsilent posted a piece of art depicting the anthropomorphic character Von Lycaon, garnering over 7,400 likes in a week (shown below, right). Some of the best fan art is curated and published to the Zenless Zone Zero website.^[10]

Search Interest

External References