Voice actors for the highly popular action-role-playing game Genshin Impact joined other players who are criticizing developer miHoYo for allegedly "whitewashing" the new Natlan region.
The accusations come as many people are calling out the studio for supposed cultural appropriation and the lack of diversity in its character designs within the new region. Some of miHoYo's voice actors have not asked the publisher, HoYoverse, to make changes.
Genshin Impact Controversy
(Photo : miHoYo / Screenshot taken from official website)
The ever-growing universe of the franchise features various stories and locations that are seemingly inspired by real-life counterparts. There are many similarities that include the geography of in-game settings to architecture, mythology, music, food, and history in general.
These are also things that players are starting to see in the upcoming new region, Natlan, which was showcased in a reveal trailer last week.
However, many fans have expressed their anger for what seems to be a failure to accurately represent the cultures that each new character was based on, according to IGN.
These characters include the fact that Mavukia, Kinich, and Ororon, who all seem to have been inspired by real-life deities like the Maori's Mahuika, all have white skin. This is a continuing trend for Genshin Impact that has seen players demanding proper representation.
One of the voice actors for Genshin Impact who have joined the calls is the one behind Albedo, Khoi Dao, who published a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. He told the public to keep making their voices heard and said that he was hoping that the developer would listen.
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Dao continued to say that if a game draws so heavily from real-world cultures and bases a character on the supreme deity of Yoruba religion and that character ends up very misrepresented, people have the right to demand changes.
Another voice actor, Valeria Rodriguez, who voices Sucrose, said that she could stay quiet about the issue and just protect herself. However, she, along with other people of color, doesn't always need to stay quiet and others walk all over them, said GamesIndustry.
Whitewashing Natlan Characters
She added that if a studio is going to use real-world deities, they need to be respected along with the cultures that are also used as inspiration. Rodriguez said that she was fine with things being inspired but the bare minimum is research and cultural appreciation.
The situation comes as Genshin Impact has experienced criticism for whitewashing people of color in the past. However, previous backlash over such accusations never reached the point that it has this time around.
The basis for the upcoming Natlan region is Latin America but also features some characters who are based on African deities. However, the fact that all of the characters have been portrayed as having white skin has prompted players to call for a boycott of the game.
Fans have not put together a petition urging HoYoverse to stop whitewashing its characters and engaging in cultural appropriation. The #BoycottHYV continued to spread on social media and is encouraging players to make their grievances heard through customer service channels, according to Kotaku.
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