(Yicai Global) June 28 -- MiHoYo Technology and Lilith Games, two Chinese game developers, have filed a lawsuit against a trust arm of China Minmetals, a minerals trading giant, for  wealth management products.

MiHoYo, known for the video game Genshin Impact, as well as its peer Lilith, the operator of Soul Hunters, will face Minmetals International Trust at a court hearing on July 25, according to a recent court notice.

MiHoYo and Minmetals International have refused to comment on the case. Lilith has not responded to Yicai Global's inquiry.

The dispute may be about a CNY2.3 billion (USD340 million) real estate financing product under Minmetals International's affiliate Dingxing Investment. The product matured on March 30. Although the two Shanghai-based game firms have not disclosed the scale of losses, the minimum spend on Dingxing products ranges from CNY1 million to CNY5 million (from USD149,570 to USD747,870).

A person close to Minmetals International said the funds involved in the above-mentioned product may have been invested in property projects, and it is difficult for the investors to be refunded, according to an earlier report by Shanghai Securities News. Minmetals International has previously revealed that it has invested in projects under Shimao Group Holdings, a Hong Kong-based real estate developer in a debt crisis.

The game companies have money to burn. In 2021, MiHoYo’s action role-playing game Genshin Impact earned more than USD1.8 billion in overseas markets on mobile platforms alone, according to data from Sensor Tower. Lilith's three games, namely Art of Conquest, Rise of Kingdoms, and AFK Arena, all exceeded USD1 billion in global revenue in a single month last year.

Qinghai province-registered Minmetals International has had issues before. The trust company has recorded several defaults on projects ranging from one to five years since last year, involving a total sum of CNY8.1 billion.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi