Summary
Following the latest developer livestream, HoYoverse CEO Liu Wei made a surprise appearance to address the negative feedback fromGenshin Impactfans that has permeated since the Lunar New Year in 2024. WhileGenshin Impacthas occasionally seen a tense relationship between players and its development team, many believe the controversy has never been as pervasive as it was in Version 4.4 and beyond.
TheLantern Rite controversy inGenshin Impactcame as a conjunction of several factors.Genshin Impactplayers were becoming increasingly bitter by the generosity shown in other HoYoverse games, such as the free character Dr. Ratio inHonkai: Star Rail, with many seeing the anniversary rewards inGenshin Impactas lacking by comparison. The Chronicled Banner in Version 4.5 also caught the community’s ire, with its gacha mechanics unfavorable compared to the Event Banners ofGenshin Impact. Lastly, the overall direction of Natlan received ample criticism from disgruntled players, who felt that the developers were “whitewashing” characters inspired by real-life cultures based on Latin America, West Africa, and Oceania.
According to HoYoverse president Liu Wei, these comments had a profound impact on the development team. As a result, Liu Wei made an appearance at the Genshin FES event in Shanghai to personally address the fans, with his speech recorded and translated by the YouTube channel SentientBamboo. The apology was emotionally charged, as Liu Wei described his team as having experienced a lot of anxiety and confusion over the “really sharp” feedback it received from the community over thepast couple of updates inGenshin Impact.
Genshin Impact Wants To Address Player Feedback With Version 5.0
“Some people felt that our project team was really arrogant, saying that they don’t listen to anything. But it’s like [the presenter] said – we’re actually the same as everyone, we are also gamers. We all feel things other people feel, too,” Wei said. The CEO went on to say that the development team felt lost and useless during thelaunch of Version 4.4 inGenshin Impactand traveled the world to speak to players about how they felt about the game. “After returning, I had many meetings with the team, and after many meetings, we reached a consensus – the only thing that cannot be changed forGenshinis the journey we’ll experience with our Travelers. Everything else can be changed.”
Liu Wei explained that thequality-of-life features coming toGenshin Impactin Version 5.0 are a direct outcome of those meetings, as the team believes that any change is on the table if it makes the players happy. In order to address the shortcomings of its anniversary rewards,Genshin Impactwill now allow players to select a free 5-star character from the Standard Banner on every anniversary moving forward. Its gacha system will also favor the player more directly, as Weapon Banners will only require one Fate Point to guarantee the Epitomized Path. Furthermore, any 50:50 pull on the Event Banners will instead have 55:45 odds of summoning the promotional character.
“The only thing that cannot be changed forGenshinis the journey we’ll experience with our Travelers. Everything else can be changed.” – Liu Wei
“I know that in the future, we may still be lacking in some parts. I also know that even today, we still can’t meet everyone’s expectations. But after the anxiety and confusion the team and I experienced over the past year, I feel we also received a lot of courage and trust from Travelers,” Wei concluded. While not mentioning it directly, it’s quite possible that Liu Wei was speaking about the criticism levied against Natlan, though it remains to be seen if HoYoverse will address the issue in the coming months.
