Genshin Impact Chief Shares the Emotions of Staff on Facing Accusations of Copying Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda is one of the most successful franchises in the industry. The last edition of Tears of the Kingdom to the series was a massive game changer for the Japanese console giant. The 2023 release went on to break major sales records. Also, it turned out to be a critic’s favorite. Its predecessor Breath of the Wild was subjected to a similar fan hype. While the fan following of Breath of the Wild worked great for Nintendo, it turned out to be a nightmare for the developers of Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact is an open-world role-playing game that will be released in 2020. The title did receive a lot of fan attention but not for an ideal reason. A lot of Nintendo fans openly criticized the developers for copying Breath of the Wild. As Genshin Impact moved closer to the release, the backlash only seemed to increase. Now, in the latest piece of news, the Genshin Impact developing team’s chief shares their perspective during the harsh times. 

“The accusations of plagiarism took a heavy toll”: miHoYo President defends Genshin Impact

Liu “Dawei” Wei, co-founder and president of miHoYo, talked about the hard times in a candid interview. The latter emphasized the emotional impact the accusations left on the developing team. The game was constantly subjected to protests and backlash. Moreover, a lot of gamers even coined Genshin Impact as the ‘Breath of the Wild Clone’. Although the developing team did not give up and stayed motivated. As Wei explained, the will to not give up helped them achieve what they did for the game. 

Revisiting all the episodes the latter said, “The accusations of plagiarism took a heavy toll on the development team. According to Wei, many of his colleagues were crying and saying “Why is this happening?” and “What did we do wrong?” “Let’s prove ourselves,” Wei said. “Let’s make the part of Genshin that everyone didn’t see!” The establishment of Liyue in Feb. 2020 gave players a better understanding of what miHoYo was building with Genshing Impact, leading to a more positive perception of the game.”

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The plagiarism accusation is considered to be the most demeaning one for any creator. There were stories of gamers smashing their PlayStation 4 in protest against Sony promoting Genshin Impact.

Though there were some similarities that gave the vibes of The Legend of Zelda’s 2017 release, a total rip-off allegation did seem extreme. And talking about inspirations, there have been a lot of giant titles evidently inspired by successful projects in the past.

However, it did end well for the developers as Genshin Impact did establish a decent fan base of its own. Fans would look forward to some more projects by the team in the near future. 

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