miHoYo put out merch guidelines today, letting fans know they’ll need authorization if they want to sell fan merchandise based on Genshin Impact.

In a post on HoyoLab today, they outlined just exactly this would work. The crux of it revolves around what miHoYo terms as “Light Merchandise”, basically referring to a lot of the merchandise seen around conventions.

From their own FAQ, things like fan illustrations and doujinshi, as well as cotton dolls, dango, and cushions all fall under the umbrella of Light Merchandise.

The Basic Summary

If you’re using the likeness of characters from Genshin Impact for your convention merchandise, you’ll need to apply for authorization from miHoYo. At what point you need to declare it is dependent on whether you’re a group (like a doujin circle or a third-party company) or an individual creator.

For groups, your number is 200. If your circle for example produces 250 Albedo dakimakura covers, you will need to get authorization from miHoYo.

However, if you’re a solo creator, that number becomes 500. If, as a solo artist you were to produce a series of art cards featuring Rosaria, for example, you wouldn’t need to declare them until they break 500 in units produced.

Exceptions

Of course, this doesn’t apply to all merchandise- figures will need to be declared no matter the amount, as long as they’re intended for sale.

Meanwhile written works, such as a collection of fan fiction, are exempt from declaration. Presumably this means any works sans illustration- since they later mention in the FAQ that comics would still need to be declared.

Applying For Authorization

Here’s where the post gets tricky. There’s several key pieces of information that are important when applying for authorization. The most notable one is the characters you want authorization for- since you have to get authorization for each piece of merchandise, you’ll need to get approval for each character. Rather than being a blanket-miHoYo-approved fan artist, you’ll need to tell miHoYo that you want to publish Rosaria doujinshi and get the appropriate clearance for it.

You’ll also need to give your projected sales numbers- they haven’t explained how this will factor into approval, but it’s a good way to show that you’re serious about getting the approval, and it’s not like they’ll penalize you for having a bad sales day.

A no-brainer, you’ll also need to give your miHoYo account information when applying- this is to make sure that artists creating merchandise are actual fans of the game, not just someone trying to cash in on the Genshin IP.

Authorized Merch Guidelines

Once you’re authorized to make Genshin Impact fan merch, you’ll have to declare that your merchandise is fan-made- basically, don’t go calling it the official Albedo Dakimakura since it’s not. Of course, you’re not allowed to use official game assets (screenshots, key art) for anything that’s for sale, either. There’s a whole category on giving stuff as gifts, which are exempt from the process.

Not Too Uncommon

Fan merchandise guidelines aren’t uncommon- they’re part of the relationship between popular IPs and their growing fan communities, since otherwise having a hall full of people selling fanart could otherwise be seen as failing to defend your trademark.

That being said, not many companies call for straight out declaring your merchandise, which is a bit heavy-handed on miHoYo’s part. Once the convention season goes into full swing, the sheer number of people wanting to sell their fan works based on their favorite characters will likely be hard to rein in.

Usually most companies tend to simply go for content guidelines, simply making sure whatever you produce isn’t something that might misrepresent the company, similar to Studio Khara’s Evangelion guidelines.

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Genshin Impact

Publisher: miHoYo

Developer: miHoYo

Release Date: 2020-09-28

Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Step into Teyvat, a vast world teeming with life and flowing with elemental energy. You and your sibling arrived here from another world. Separated by an unknown god, stripped of your powers, and cast into a deep slumber, you now awake to a world very different from when you first arrived.