Genshin Impact developer miHoYo has promised to step up its efforts to deal with “illegal disclosures” after data miners leaked a significant amount of information about the upcoming Genshin Impact 1.5 update. The statement, which was posted via Twitter, also urges gamers to steer clear of the 1.5 Genshin Impact leaks to avoid misunderstandings about upcoming content.
The tweets came after a series of leaks found their way online over the past week or so. These data drops not only provide insight into potential new Genshin Impact characters, but also planned adjustments and changes for some of the existing ones. On the surface it may all seem harmless enough, but the developer claims it has the potential to affect development and could also disrupt studio plans to promote new content; and it may well be correct.
Leaks have been an almost constant problem for the Chinese developer since the successful launch of Genshin Impact last September. They’ve covered everything from powerful new weapons to the next playable areas, though the most notable are perhaps those related to the 5-star character, Zhongli.
This time around, the data-miners were able to correctly predict that the character would be incredibly powerful, though they didn’t mention that to reach his full potential, players would have to summon him a total of six times. Given the low odds and high cost of doing so, this sparked a huge backlash from the Genshin community, and miHoYo eventually had to upgrade Zhongli multiple times to appease angry players.
Whether or not the complaints were truly justified is up for debate, but it highlights some of the potential problems that can arise as a result of the leaks. Balancing new characters and weapons before release is, after all, an essential part of the development process. However, if your stats are released before they are finalized, it can lead to unrealistic expectations, and ultimately disappointment, should they end up changing before their official releases.
and misprints of the latest versions. On this occasion, we would like to request the support and help of all travelers so that we together stop the illegal and unfair dissemination of the contents of future versions.
— Genshin Impact ES (@genshinimpactes) March 17, 2021
This is a problem facing not only miHoYo, but the entire gaming industry. Popular game leaks are a dime a dozen these days and seem to be getting more and more frequent with each passing month. While some developers have chosen to take legal action against leaks, others have learned to adapt the way they operate to reduce the number of leaks or at least minimize their impact. It remains to be seen which of these approaches miHoYo will choose to take moving forward.
Genshin Impact is available now for mobile devices, PC and PS4, and is in development for PS5 and Switch.
