MiHoYo Announces Desktop Chill App 'BSide: Olivia Lin' on Steam
This marks miHoYo's first publicly detailed desktop companion app, distinct from its flagship gacha games, and leverages AI text generation and MIDI-driven video creation as core features rather than traditional gameplay.
Key Facts
- MiHoYo published the Steam store page for 'BSide: Olivia Lin', a free desktop 'chill software' that centers on interacting with a computer-generated character named Lin Li (Olivia Lin).
- Lin Li is a Shanghai university student majoring in piano and minoring in psychology, conducting personal research on 'music and memory'.
- Users can listen to Lin's piano performances, upload their own MIDI files to generate music videos, and write letters to her, which she replies to using AI text generation.
- The app includes a live wallpaper feature that displays Lin on the desktop and allows starting a performance without launching the full app.
- The early access period is planned to run until the end of 2026, during which the developer will collect user feedback for improvements.
Reporting from 3 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer, Game Spark.
MiHoYo has published the Steam store page for 'BSide: Olivia Lin', a free desktop application described as a 'chill software' that centers on interacting with a realistic computer-generated character named Lin Li (Olivia Lin). Lin is a Shanghai university student majoring in piano and minoring in psychology, conducting personal research on the theme of 'music and memory'. Users can listen to her piano performances, upload their own MIDI files to generate music videos, and write letters to her, which she replies to using AI text generation. The app also includes a live wallpaper feature that displays Lin on the desktop and allows starting a performance without launching the full app. The early access period is planned to run until the end of 2026, during which the developer will collect user feedback for improvements. The store page is currently inaccessible from Japan, though it can be viewed via workarounds. The app does not currently support Japanese display.
The app is described on its Steam page as a "chill software" rather than a game. It uses AI text generation to power Lin's letter replies, which the store page highlights as a showcase of miHoYo's AI development work. The app also generates music videos automatically from uploaded MIDI files, supporting not only complete songs but also short phrases, improvisations, and musical ideas.
The store page images show Lin at a desk in a room with high-rise buildings visible outside the window, playing a piano, and appearing to speak to the player. The app is currently inaccessible from Japan, though it can be viewed via workarounds such as logging out of Steam and using a special method. It does not currently support Japanese display.
miHoYo is also developing other projects, including a "realistic hardcore shooter" using Unreal Engine 5 and a life MMO with sandbox content, as seen in recent job postings. The company continues to recruit staff for announced titles such as "Collapse: Nexus Animal" and "Varsapura."
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.