Genshin Controversy: Developers Express Discouragement

HoYoverse president Liu Wei has recently opened up about the toll that harsh fan feedback has taken on the Genshin Impact dev team over the past year. Read on for more about his comments and the tumultuous period the game has experienced.

Genshin Devs Felt Defeated and Worthless Following Continuous Negative Feedback from FansTeam Remains Committed to Improving Genshin and Listening to Fans

(c) SentientBamboo

HoYoverse President Liu Wei recently opened up about the "anxiety and dismay" that harsh fan feedback has taken on the Genshin Impact development team over the past year. Speaking at a recent event in Shanghai, Wei remarked on the situation after a tumultuous period of growing dissatisfaction among its player base, particularly around the Lunar New Year 2024 and subsequent updates.

During his speech, which was recorded and translated by the YouTube channel SentientBamboo, Liu expressed how the intense criticism from fans had deeply affected the team. "Over the past year, both the Genshin team and I experienced a lot of anxiety and dismay," he said. "We truly felt like we went through some really hard times. We heard a lot of noise, and some of it was really, really sharp, causing our entire project team to feel really deflated."

The company president's statements came on the heels of a series of controversies surrounding Genshin Impact's recent updates, including the notable 4.4 Lantern Rite event. Fans were disappointed by the event rewards, particularly with the fact that they received only three intertwined fates for the Lantern Rite event, which fans viewed as unimpressive and mediocre.

Many players expressed how frustrated they have gotten by the perceived lack of engaging and sufficient updates compared to other HoYoverse titles like Honkai: Star Rail, leading to a flood of negative bombing reviews and backlash. On the other hand, Kuro Games’ latest RPG title, Wuthering Waves, has also been a reference point of contention among fans, with criticisms targeting the discrepancy between both games’ gameplay and character movement options.

The player base's frustrations escalated further with Genshin’s 4.5 Chronicled Banner, which featured gacha mechanics that many fans found unsatisfactory compared to the game’s more traditional Event Banners. The overall direction of the game also drew criticism, particularly from enclaves of players who felt that characters inspired by real-life cultures were being "whitewashed" or misrepresented.

Wei appeared noticeably emotional during his address, but still took the time to acknowledge these concerns. "Some people felt that our project team was indeed arrogant, saying that they don’t listen to anything," he said. "But it’s like [presenter] Aquaria said – we’re actually the same as everyone, we are also gamers. We all experience things other people experience too. We simply heard too much noise. We needed to calm down and discern the true voices of the Travelers."

Despite the challenges, Liu expressed hope for the game's future and its fans, promising that the team remains committed to improving the game and listening to its player community. "I know, 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 great deal of courage and trust from our Travelers. So from now on, after I leave the stage, I hope that the entire Genshin team along with all the Genshin players can stop dwelling on their pasts and wholeheartedly create the best experience."

In other related news, a preview teaser for Natlan had just been recently uploaded on the game's official account, unveiling first-looks of the game's new region. Natlan will be released soon, on August 28.