HoYoFest 2025 Brings together HoYoVerse Fans Despite Heavy Rains

HoYoFest 2025 by gaming giant HoYoVerse proves once again just how powerful their games with a big turnout on it’s first day despite bad weather. Here’s a look at some of the things that you can expect the rest of the weekend if you plan on dropping by.

The event is held at Hall 3 of the SMX Convention Center in Pasay and will run until July 27. Tickets are priced starting at P300 for one day and P750 for the 4-day pass.

If you haven’t been to a HoYoFest event, it’s basically a big area with different booths that follow the theme of the various HoYoVerse games which includes Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, Honkai Impact 3 and Tears of Themis. The annual event has drawn in a big crowd for various reasons, but usually, the longest lines are for the exclusive merchandise that can be available during the event. And this year was certainly no exception when it comes to the queue. But you have to admit, some of the items up for grabs are worth the wait. Here are some of the merch that most people got this year.

Aside from the licensed products, there are also a number of freebies for HoYo fans can get when they participate in the activities of each booth.  The one for Genshin Impact gave various freebies like lanyards and pins when they manage to bring down one or all of the plushies in the activity area.

Then there are the booths themselves. These booths are definitely bigger than the previous years all thanks to the spacious area that is SMX Hall 3 and it’s not as constrictive as in the past HoYoFests that were held in a mall’s activity area.

There’s also a chockful of Instagram-worthy stuff for the casual visitors including standees for games like Zenless Zone Zero and HSR

Most of the big activities however are reserved at the main stage so do be sure to visit that area as well. There’s a ton of activities happening throughout the day mostly featuring the various HoYo games. Some of the activities they prepared for includes show matches and even light-hearted games like charades with some Genshin or HSR twists.

One of the negative impacts in my opinion for the HoYoFest 2025 celebration is that it lessened the number of cosplayers that attended. I’m guessing its either because its hard to travel or maybe it’s really the weekend where cosplayer presence will truly be felt.

Seeing the number of HoYo fans in attendance despite the rains and floods, makes me happy especially since there’s a sense of camaraderie among the crowds that showed up and bought their tickets. If you’re interested, the HoYoFest 2025 event is running until July 27 at the SMX Convention Center.