Genshin Impact, Chinese censorship has struck again!

The new Chinese game Genshin Impact has been the talk of the town! And for good reason, this mobile game is the first Chinese blockbuster to break through internationally in record time. We can safely say that it is the game of the year 2020 ! Developed by miHoyo Limited (a Chinese studio, of course), Genshin Impact has reached record numbers of downloads (17 million) since its release on September 28. The latest hot news about the game concerns the censorship filter discovered in the game... Explanations.

A censorship filter that goes far in Genshin Impact

If you are not used to how the Chinese government and laws work, you may be a little surprised/shocked. Indeed, the Chinese state is a communist dictatorship dominated by a single party. As a result, censorship is omnipresent in Chinese life and in everything that impacts (no pun intended) their daily life.

Japanese journalist Kazuma Hashimoto was the first to mention it. He noticed that Genshin Impact contained a censorship filter for the multiplayer chat. Well, that's to be expected. This is the case on many games, and the obscenity filter is, in general, easily deactivated in the settings.
So vulgarities, insults, etc., we are not very surprised. But as far as Genshin Impactthe terms "Tibet", "Hong Kong" and "Taiwan" are also subject to this outrageous censorship. Even for the international version of the game! This means that not only the Chinese, but all players of Genshin Impact are concerned.

The Chinese are used to the banns

Of course, Chinese companies are required to comply with the law. And the law is clear: anything that threatens the integrity of the nation is censored. So the Chinese have both eyes on your actions. 👀 So beware, a ban is quick!

By the way, we saw what happened to India with PUBG Mobile. The Chinese totally banned the game in India. One geopolitical conflict later, and no Pro League! And this is not the only game concerned. This is the case for AFK Arena, Rise of Kingdoms and many other games and mobile applications. And let's not talk about the Winnie the Pooh controversy, whose images have been censored on Chinese social networks and search engines because he looks too much like President Xi Jinping... 🐻 😅

Given the success of the game in Europe, this controversy has not finished spilling a lot of ink. Indeed, Western neophytes, unaccustomed to Chinese political practices, have not finished learning about it!