Genshin Impact is one of the largest and most successful video games in the world, bringing in tens of millions of dollars each month for developer/publisher miHoYo. However, according to some voice actors involved in the popular game, they are not being paid for months, leading to some potentially falling behind on rent.
Introduced in 2020, Genshin Impact is a free anime-style gacha-driven online action role-playing game featuring a large cast of characters working together to defeat enemies using elemental magic attacks. The game has been a huge hit from the moment it launches and has spawned a huge community of players around the world. But despite all the money and success the game has brought in for developer miHoYo, two voice actors who worked on the game have publicly expressed their frustration at being paid on Twitter.
On July 12: Corina Boettger and Brandon Winckler, two voice actors who voiced characters Genshin Impact, tweeted how frustrated they were and claimed that months later the money owed to them had still not been paid. Boettger voices the popular NPC Paimon and Winckler voices various supporting characters in the role-playing game.
Winckler explained that he sent five emails to miHoYo He’s asking the company to pay him, but hasn’t received a response yet. He said it was “inexcusable” that he had to wait over four months for his paycheck while he estimates the publisher makes over $85 million a month. Between 2020 and 2021 Genshin Impact allegedly generated a total of 3.7 billion US dollars.
“It’s really hard to justify working on something for a job when you can’t afford food,” Winckler tweeted. “A lot of non-union productions have this problem. I’ve waited four to eight months for payment, and even then it’s not asking much. $1,000 here, $500 there, and it adds up quickly.”
Winckler added that while he enjoys working on video games, he won’t be working on it Genshin Impact more and says the game should be a “union production” with a union contract and safeguards.
fellow actor Corina Boettger also tweeted about frustration due to lack of pay and said they had been working on a “big project” for “months” without pay. Boettger claims they are owed thousands of dollars and are currently struggling to pay rent due to late payments. While Boettger didn’t say so directly Genshin Impact In the tweets, follow-up replies make it clear which project the actor is referring to in his public statements.
“This project has raised BILLIONS,” Boettger said. “This project should be Union. That wouldn’t happen if the game was unionized. Tell them to make the game SAG.”
Boettger went on to add that while they’re not sure if the developers, publisher, or anyone else is to blame for the payment issues, they assume none of that would happen if the game were a union.
my city contacted miHoYo, Boettger, and Winckler for comment, but received no response prior to publication.
Unions are not as prevalent in the video game industry as in other industries such as film or manufacturing, but that has gradually changed in recent years. First, QA tester at call of Duty Studio Raven Software unionizedfollowed by testers at BioWare, blizzardAnd bethesda. Developer at Proletariat Studio had tried to organize beforehand everyone in the studio except management, but were ultimately unsuccessful. And on Monday Sega of America’s Irvine, California office successfully voted in favor of unionization.
Outside of Microsoftno video game publisher has voluntarily recognized any of these unions, and Activision has reportedly attempted to bust the unions within his large organization.
