HoYoverse Sues Player for $150,000 Over Honkai: Star Rail Character Leak

Honkai: Star Rail publisher HoYoverse is reportedly suing a player for $150,000 after they streamed unreleased gameplay featuring Castorice, a new character that would be introduced later in update Version 3.2. The footage was allegedly broadcast on Discord in front of an audience of around 12,000 viewers, well ahead of the official release date.

The legal action, revealed in a June 16 report by Game File, claims the player violated copyright law by sharing pre-release material. Court documents show the lawsuit was filed on June 6 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

According to HoYoverse, the player in question live-streamed an early build of Honkai: Star Rail that featured Castorice, a 5-star Quantum-element character who had already been announced but was not yet released at the time of the stream.

Although Castorice had been teased during The Game Awards 2024, her in-game debut only came with the Version 3.2 update on April 8, 2025. HoYoverse argues that the player’s actions violated copyright and broke the confidentiality agreements typically in place for beta builds or early access content.

Previous Legal Action

This isn’t the first time HoYoverse has pursued legal action against leakers. In September 2024, the company demanded that Twitter (now X) reveal the identities behind three Genshin Impact leak accounts. A judge sided with miHoYo, forcing the social media giant to reveal the identities behind the leak accounts. At the time, X argued it violated the company’s free speech rights, although the California District Court ultimately ruled against them.

The Genshin Impact accounts that were involved in the lawsuit have since been suspended. While the new June 6 lawsuit centered around the early stream of Castorice is unrelated, it shows the lengths HoYoverse is willing to go to stamp out any leaks of material from their games.

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