Mana Books will publish the Official Video Game Cookbook on October 3, 2024 Genshin impact. A niche that has largely proven itself over the years.
Despite a market in clear decline – the cookbook sector is down 10% year-on-year – there is one area where publishers continue to see life in rosy terms, and that is “cookbooks” adapted from a flagship license. Mangas, Anime, movies, series, but also video games, there is everything and for all fans.
A few weeks before the first Christmas shopping, the publisher Mana Books offers an “official” cookbook based on Genshin impactthe huge fun video box from China. It is an exclusive work, the result of several years of work with Hoyoverse, the studio at its origin. Next to the specialized publisher, no less than Thibaud Villanova, aka Gastronogeek, well known to fans of pop culture with a culinary bias with its approximately 650,000 copies sold. The videographer and chef offers more than 60 illustrated recipes based on those present in the video game, all introduced by star chefs Paul Pairet and Mory Sacko.
Among the recipes we can find, for example, “Broccoli and cauliflower gratin with spinach béchamel and spinach tuiles”. A recipe of sucrose, one of the characters in Genshin impact where the cabbage and pieces of ham that can be picked up during the adventure are put to good use. The rehearsal dinner for Rosalia, another character in the game, is also present. This time it is poultry fried in honey butter, which can be combined in the game with sugar flowers and therefore poultry.
A very attentive study
For Mana Books, which negotiated the production of this book with the studio, the idea was not to create a simple recipe booklet, but to immerse itself in the universe of the title to also tell a story to the players who are less resourceful : “I’m a big fan of Genshin impactand I had wanted to create editorial content on the license for a long time, so I contacted the studio and quickly came up with the idea of a cookbook, because it is an important element, says Erwan Roux, editorial manager at Mana books.
“It’s an idea that was very well accepted by the studio, especially from France, which is the land of gastronomy, but I didn’t want to do something classic, I wanted to tell a story and respect the license, so I proposed an idea to the studio to focus on the superb gourmets that can be encountered in the various areas of the game.”
In this book we don’t just find recipes: there are restaurants we look at Genshin impacta kind of common thread that allows the less resourceful to still have a beautiful collectible in their hands, and all levels can try the adventure.
To design this book, Mana Books immediately thought of Thibaud Villanova: “He is the reference in terms of cuisine and pop culture in France, he is someone who with genius manages to transcribe recipes from pop culture licenses into reality,” says Erwan Roux, for whom his chance meeting at New York Comic Con gave rise to this unprecedented collaboration.
“We arrived at the right time”
To succeed in this feat of imposing the Hoyoverse project, Erwan Roux admits to having benefited from a good deal of luck: the negotiations thus started when the game was not yet the hit it is today. “We arrived at the right time. The studio was just starting to realize they had a strong license. I contacted Hoyoverse before we even talked about the art books [que Mana Books édite en France, ndlr] and it was by working on the cooking that we were able to take advantage of the publishing rights for other books.”
Mana Books is also in negotiations with publishers worldwide to translate this official cookbook from Genshin impact: “We sold the rights in English, German and Japan as well as in China,” he recalls.
For Thibaud Villanova, in the origin of the different recipes, it is not always easy to design such a book: “What I do is that I put myself at the service of the license and I start from a plate, that’s already visible in-game, and then figure out how to do it and teach people how to do it.”
Above all a collector’s item for fans, cookbooks based on a license are not necessarily bought by budding chefs: “We expect that, that’s why we make them objects that can be role-playing, and that’s the case on Genshin impact where we have integrated a banner with the recipe available in-game with the in-game text so that any reader who is a fan can find their way there. We also reproduced the dressage.”
Creating a recipe for an imaginary universe is a real challenge for the videographer, who has to “accept” that everything is not exactly like what is in the game: “We have still made a selection which has already made it possible to sort things out. which are hard to achieve, I’m proud that I didn’t cheat to get there.”
A necessary “alignment of the planets”
Mana Books and Thibaud Villanova assure that they were particularly touched by the care shown by the Hoyoverse studio in monitoring the project: “Everyone was very concerned. On this book, it is the first time that they will do anything other than to publish art books, they had to trust us. Everyone had to agree on the major stages of the negotiations. I asked that Mana Books and Hoyoverse agree, so I have no restrictions.
Thibaud Villanova, who a few days ago launched an Ulule project for a cookbook – this time unofficial – approx. The Lord of the Rings – describes the “challenge” that such a work can be: “We want to make a beautiful object for the fans, we have exceeded objectives that allow us to go as far as possible, also for those who only wanted given 35 euros – which allows you to receive the physical version.”
But for him, recipe books adapted from larger licenses must rhyme with quality: “We put a lot of effort into Mana Books and Hachette Heroes to develop something when it’s well-crafted and not just aesthetic, that there’s substance with recipes, there is a reason to exist, there is an alignment of the planets. We feel a definite decline in the cookbook market, perhaps because we have said everything, or because the players who entered the market only made aesthetic books. Alien Or Transformersshould you still find something to eat in these licenses. When you see a Ghibli, an Asterix or Genshin, you want to be at the license banquet.”
The same observation for Mana Books, which has found a place in a market that sells 2.4 million copies for the year 2024 alone: ”When I choose a cookbook, I try to measure the commercial potential of the license, but also whether it will bring something to the table ,” notes Erwan Roux.
“We also have to keep in mind that when we develop recipes, there are ingredients that we don’t find in every country, that’s an extra challenge, besides making them available to everyone.”
The official cookbook of Genshin impact could nevertheless be one of the very good students at the end of the year in this sector. According to information from Tech&Co, the book is already in stock even before the launch: “We arrive at the first end of the year purchase, so it is an optimal period. And the advantage of a book based on a license,” we will be present both in the pop culture sections and in the cooking sections,” confides Erwan Roux. So the success is only just beginning.
