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If you are a Genshin Impact fan, you may have heard that there is a controversy happening right now, with the game facing heavy backlash from the Chinese players.
Simply put, the Chinese Genshin Impact fans were expressing their dissatisfaction over the rewards that were revealed for this year’s Lantern Rite event during the version 4.4 update, when compared to other HoYoverse titles.
Expressing discontent, the Chinese fans took to social media for a mass protest by unfollowing Genshin Impact’s official channels and review-bombing the game, leaving negative ratings and reviews on the game’s app stores.
This results in Genshin Impact’s official Douyin, Weibo, and BiliBili accounts witnessing a significant drop in followers, losing by a million within the first 24 hours.
The protest even extended to other brands that had collaborated with Genshin Impact in the past such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Heytea, all suffering from mass unfollows by players.
For the uninitiated, the Latern Rite is an annual in-game event that celebrates the Lunar New Year and is most often the more anticipated update for the game not only for the festive vibes but also the plentiful rewards.
From 9.3m to 8.7m from the 4.4 livestream till last night 😵💫#GenshinImpact #原神 #원신 https://t.co/6Z3GgexEZl pic.twitter.com/u6ReHjFQwa
— Genshin Update (@GenshinUpdate) January 22, 2024
The Rewards
Although the rewards this year are not much different from the previous Lantern Rite, such as free Intertwined Fates and a 4-star character picker, to fans, they were far from satisfactory.
The frustration from Genshin Impact fans stems from many factors, which all narrow down to the lackluster Lantern Rite rewards.
For one, the controversy was fueled by the fact that Honkai: Star Rail, a sister game to Genshin Impact, gave away a free limited 5-star character to its players just a week before HoYoverse unveiled the version 4.4 update content for Genshin Impact.
Meanwhile, HoYoverse announced that Genshin Impact players will be receiving a free character skin selector, only if they purchased the newly revealed PlayStation 5 Starter Pack bundle.
Furthermore, as a token of appreciation for the long-time support from fans, HoYoverse announced that they will be handing out 3 Intertwined Fates to thank the players.
For those who do not know, Intertwined Fates is a currency used for pulling limited characters in the game’s gacha system, and each is equal to a single pull.
Moreover, the 3 Intertwined Fates only totaled up to 480 of the game’s premium currency Primogems, which is less than what is given by the Stellar Reunion, an event for returning players who had stopped playing the game for many weeks.
This led to fans feeling insulted as the rewards make it seem that their 3 years of support to the game and the company are only worth 3 Intertwined Fates, which is less than those who have not played Genshin Impact for a long time.
History Repeating Itself
This is not the first time that Genshin Impact embroiled in a controversy due to meager in-game rewards, as recall the game was in a similar situation during its first anniversary celebration.
For free-to-play live service titles, anniversaries are generally seen as a celebration for the game and often times when developers give out generous rewards to thank fans.
However, the first anniversary of Genshin Impact was a time when the game triggered widespread disappointment due to its low rewards, causing fans globally to review-bomb not only the game but also many other apps on Google Play and App Store.
While the current controversy is largely centered in China, the situation seems quite significant and has become a frequent discussion even among fans outside of the country.
Fans of Genshin Impact have often expressed their discontent with the game’s in-game rewards and the frustration likely escalated after the release of Honkai: Star Rail, which was often compared with the former due to it also being released by the same studio.
Despite being released less than a year ago, Honkai: Star Rail has seen many quality-of-life updates and generous in-game rewards given out to players, causing some fans of Genshin Impact to feel displeased with the unequal treatment between the two HoYoverse games.
As of now, there is no news if HoYoverse has addressed the controversy yet but vocal discontent has influenced the company’s decisions in the past, like the buffing of the character Zhongli after mass complaints.
Here’s hoping that HoYoverse would break the silence and address the situation, and hopefully with appropriate actions that would please Genshin Impact fans.
