Why Is 'Genshin Impact' And Its Natlan Region Being Accused Of Cultural Appropriation And Whitewashing? The 'Hoyoverse Controversy' Explained

The Genshin Impact fanbase is protesting against MiHoYo, the Chinese company responsible for Genshin and Honkai: Star Rail, accusing Hoyoverse of cultural appropriation and whitewashing African and Latin American-inspired characters for the upcoming Natlan nation update.

While the most recent, this is not the first time the gacha game has faced these types of allegations, as creators like YouTuber and streamer AsianGuyStream addressed in a video from July 2022 titled "Is Genshin Impact Racist? Why Representation Matters" in which he shared his thoughts on the discourse surrounding Sumeru 3.0 update and the lack of accurate representation of the cultures and people it is derived from.

While the 2022 backlash remained fairly small among fans of the game, this is not the case for the new controversy that recently became a viral internet topic in July 2024 thanks to the new Genshin Impact nation "Natlan" that purportedly features characters based on indigenous Latin American culture and African deities, which have all been portrayed as white or light-skinned.

There's a lot to unpack about the Hoyoverse whitewashing controversy, and we'll summarize the main points of contention among the fandom in this article.

Why Is Genshin Impact Being Accused Of Cultural Appropriation And Whitewashing?

It all started after Genshin Impact released a trailer for the game's upcoming new region, the Natlan nation, which is purportedly inspired by African and Latin American cultures, a common Genshin trope, as the gacha already has nations seemingly inspired by locations like France, Japan and other cultures.

Following the debut of the new content, some fans took issue with parts of Natlan's representation of indigenous Latin Americans and African deities, among other cultural references. One of the earliest viral videos posted about the subject was uploaded on July 10th, 2024, by streamer and TikToker @hobikage_games, who voiced her complaints about the way the cultures were being represented in the new region.

@hobikage_games "it's a Chinese company " yeah and it has international fans 🤨 I'm gonna talk about Natlan but lowkey I'm not gonna mention/complain about skin color. I am a Hoyo content creator and I'm not afraid to criticize Genshin Impact. #natlan #genshinstreamer #genshinimpact #hobikage ♬ original sound – Hobikage | Twitch + Genshin

The allegations grew exponentially over the following weeks as Genshin players started to post more and more about the alleged cultural appropriation and whitewashing featured in the game.

TikTok users such as @yelanfan3.0, who shared a comparison between a dark-skinned character in the gacha game AFK Journey with another from Genshin Impact, and @sipsipstefen, who posted a video talking about how the MiHoYoverse accusations became a mainstream topic in the gaming community, have garnered tens of thousands of likes and comments as the controversy has spread online.

@yelanfan3.0 see how AFK JOURNEY a game made in SHANGHAI CHINA can actually make a shade darker than light medium sand😭. #seba #yelanfan #natlan #genshinimpact #afkjourney ♬ original sound – ✰ .

@sipsipstefen #greenscreen HOYOVERSE UPDATE #hoyoverse #genshinimpact #genshinnews #genshinupdate #genshinnatlan #genshindrama ♬ original sound – SipSipStefen

Why Are Genshin Impact Voice Actors Protesting Against The Game?

One of the main aspects that made the Hoyoverse controversy blow up on social media was Genshin Impact's voice actors protesting against the Chinese company. Last week, the voice of the character Sucrose (Valeria Rodríguez) posted a thread on X stating that "folks of color don’t always need to stay quiet & let others fk us over and disrespect us," while the voice actor of Albedo (X user @khoidaooo) tweeted that "people are absolutely within their rights to demand better representation, especially when said game has a clearly-stated commitment to a *global* audience."

What Is The 'Stop Cultural Appropriation and Whitewashing in MiHoYo Games' Petition?

On July 7th, 2024, a petition was launched by user Aventurine of Stratagems on Change.org titled "Stop Cultural Appropriation and Whitewashing in MiHoYo Games." The petition states, "We call on MiHoYo to stop cultural appropriation and whitewashing in their games and to commit to respectful and accurate representation of all cultures."

The petition, which has since accumulated over 63,000 signatures, continued by suggesting that the Chinese company should "engage with indigenous cultural consultants, revise existing content to ensure accurate representation and commit to creating diverse and inclusive characters."

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For the full history of Hoyoverse Controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.