Genshin Impact, started a promotional link for KFC in China. Much like the swarms of Pokémon fans that engulfed McDonald’s locations when the Pokémon Happy Meal cards were announced on this side of the Pacific, Genshin Impact fans have lined up huge lines at KFC locations in China where they hope to have on their hands pins of playable characters.
Genshin Impact is an open world role-playing game developed by the Chinese studio miHoYo and released in September last year. The game was an instant hit in its home country, but it was also a huge hit in the rest of the world. In fact, Genshin Impact has been reported to have had the largest global release of any video game produced in China.
The Genshin Impact KFC promotion offers fans in China the opportunity to earn unique pins from Diluc and Noelle, two characters from the game, which also unlock in-game content such as special recipes and a red and white glider outfit. According to Twitter user and industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, to get the pins, customers have to say, “Meet in another world, enjoy delicious food,” while ordering their food. Several videos of customers enthusiastically exclaiming the line to KFC employees have now hit Twitter, adding to the already long list of Genshin Impact memes on the internet.
Ok, this is actually getting insane
As per the tweet below, there is a KFC x Genshin Impact collab in China. Starting tomorrow fans can get a pin badge as a bonus
There are already many people lining up outside KFC’s across the country at midnight for a chance to get one first https://t.co/BxVaFWn9GV pic.twitter.com/5Chzj741eZ
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) March 12, 2021
Unfortunately, it appears that the crossover event was too successful for its own good and was eventually shut down in various places to maintain China’s covid-19 related protocols. It is unclear when the promotion will return to these locations, but considering that Genshin Impact is still going strong after version 1.4 was released, and considering that developer miHoYo plans to bring the game’s elements to the rest of the world sometime in the Moving forward, the China KFCs that stopped the event will likely not have seen the last of Genshin Impact either.
Of course, just because the rest of the world is waiting for in-game items related to KFC’s Chinese crossover doesn’t mean there haven’t been any Genshin Impact events anywhere else. It was announced several days ago that Genshin Impact’s Slime Paradise event would be coming to PS4, and leaks have suggested that some new characters will likely be added to the game when version 1.5 launches.
While the game items are expected to reach the rest of the world at some point, it appears that the pins themselves will remain exclusive to China. Collectors will probably be able to pay a small fortune for the pins on eBay at some point, although in the meantime, there are plenty of free promotions running on Genshin Impact to keep the rest of the fanbase content.
Genshin Impact is available now for the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.
Source: Kotaku
