Summary

  • HoYoverse CEO Liu Wei addressed negative feedback from Genshin Impact fans during an emotional speech.
  • The Genshin Impact team is committed to improving the gacha title after hearing directly from players.
  • Going forward, any 50:50 pull on the Event Banners will instead have 55:45 odds of summoning the promotional character, while Weapon Banners will only require one Fate Point to guarantee the Epitomized Path.

Following the latest developer livestream, HoYoverse CEO Liu Wei made a surprise appearance to address the negative feedback from Genshin Impact fans that has permeated since the Lunar New Year in 2024. While Genshin Impact has occasionally seen a tense relationship between players and its development team, many believe the controversy has never been as pervasive as it was in Version 4.4 and beyond.

The Lantern Rite controversy in Genshin Impact came as a conjunction of several factors. Genshin Impact players were becoming increasingly bitter by the generosity shown in other HoYoverse games, such as the free character Dr. Ratio in Honkai: Star Rail, with many seeing the anniversary rewards in Genshin Impact as lacking by comparison. The Chronicled Banner in Version 4.5 also caught the community's ire, with its gacha mechanics unfavorable compared to the Event Banners of Genshin Impact. Lastly, the overall direction of Natlan received ample criticism from disgruntled players, who felt that the developers were "whitewashing" characters inspired by real-life cultures based on Latin America, West Africa, and Oceania.

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According to HoYoverse president Liu Wei, these comments had a profound impact on the development team. As a result, Liu Wei made an appearance at the Genshin FES event in Shanghai to personally address the fans, with his speech recorded and translated by the YouTube channel SentientBamboo. The apology was emotionally charged, as Liu Wei described his team as having experienced a lot of anxiety and confusion over the "really sharp" feedback it received from the community over the past couple of updates in Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact Wants To Address Player Feedback With Version 5.0

"Some people felt that our project team was really arrogant, saying that they don’t listen to anything. But it’s like [the presenter] said – we’re actually the same as everyone, we are also gamers. We all feel things other people feel, too," Wei said. The CEO went on to say that the development team felt lost and useless during the launch of Version 4.4 in Genshin Impact and traveled the world to speak to players about how they felt about the game. "After returning, I had many meetings with the team, and after many meetings, we reached a consensus – the only thing that cannot be changed for Genshin is the journey we’ll experience with our Travelers. Everything else can be changed."

Liu Wei explained that the quality-of-life features coming to Genshin Impact in Version 5.0 are a direct outcome of those meetings, as the team believes that any change is on the table if it makes the players happy. In order to address the shortcomings of its anniversary rewards, Genshin Impact will now allow players to select a free 5-star character from the Standard Banner on every anniversary moving forward. Its gacha system will also favor the player more directly, as Weapon Banners will only require one Fate Point to guarantee the Epitomized Path. Furthermore, any 50:50 pull on the Event Banners will instead have 55:45 odds of summoning the promotional character.

"The only thing that cannot be changed for Genshin is the journey we’ll experience with our Travelers. Everything else can be changed." – Liu Wei

"I know that in the future, we may still be lacking in some parts. I also know that 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 lot of courage and trust from Travelers," Wei concluded. While not mentioning it directly, it's quite possible that Liu Wei was speaking about the criticism levied against Natlan, though it remains to be seen if HoYoverse will address the issue in the coming months.