Summary
Earlier this week,Genshin ImpactdeveloperMihoyocame under fire from fans after the reveal of several characters being introduced to the game in the upcoming Natlan expansion. It’s an area that is heavily inspired by African and Latin American cultures, but the expansion’s cast of largely white charactershad fans accusing the developer of “colorism.”
Mihoyo has yet to respond to these accusations, and it’s possible the studio may ignore them altogether, but fans aren’t backing down without a fight this time around. First spotted byVGC, players that feel fed up with the lack of diversity in titles like Genshin Impact,Honaki Star Rail, andZenless Zone Zerohave signed a petition to try and get Mihoyoto “stop cultural appropriation and whitewashing in MiHoYo games.”
The petition was started by an assumed Genshin Impact fan by the name of Aventurine of Stratagems and calls on Mihoyo to “commit to respectful and accurate representation of all cultures.” They also explain that some enemies and NPCs in Genshin Impact and the Natlan expansion are black, but that this has further “sparked concerns of racism among players and indigenous communities.”
Genshin Impact Petition For Mihoyo To Stop “Whitewashing” Gains 75,000 Signatures
Aventurine of Stratagems, along with those signing the petition, are demanding that Mihoyo reverse existing content that is planned to drop in the Natlan expansion, and to “engage with indigenous cultural consultants” to create diverse characters. At the time of writing, the petition has managed to get 75,000 signatures, with that number almost constantly crawling higher and higher. Over 10,000 of those signatures were gained just today.
There have also been many calls from the English voice actors behind Mihoyo’s lineup of titles for more accurate representation, who have been rounded up ina handy little thread by Twitter user Timely Harmony. Unfortunately, Mihoyo has shown very little signs of actually responding to the controversy, and has even issued an apology about a completely separate issue via the official Genshin Impact Twitter account.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the problem gets loud enough to force Mihoyo into an official statement, though the studio is probably just hunkering down and waiting for things to blow over. This isn’t the first time Genshin Impact players have beenupset by the game’s lack of dark-skinned characters, and if Mihoyo doesn’t respond, it probably won’t be the last.
