With Genshin Impact being the massive success that it is, it’s hard to imagine that developer Hoyoverse would be anything but full of confidence over the course of its creation. However, studio co-founder and president Liu “Dawei” Wei pointed out how that was not always the case, particularly at the start of the multiplayer RPG’s development.
Wei spoke at an event in Shanghai, China, where he recalled how the small but ambitious team was unprepared for the challenges of making GI, even going so far as to suggest that if the devs were aware of the difficulties in 2017, the project would have probably never moved forward. However, the completion of the Monstadt area in 2019 rejuvenated the team.
That relief soon turned to despair during closed beta, when Wei says that several Hoyoverse devs were brought to tears over accusations that the RPG was ripping off of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but Wei tried to rally the troops. “Let’s prove ourselves,” said Wei. “Let’s make the part of Genshin that everyone didn’t see!” Shortly after, the Liyue region was released in 2020.
Obviously the game has been trucking along past those initial plagiarism barbs to become one of mobile gaming’s biggest releases, and it’s only getting bigger with tomorrow’s release of Version 4.0: As Light Rain Falls Without Reason, which brings the Fontaine area, three new characters (two of which are previewed in recent videos) and a host of events. Hoyoverse has also started stirring the hype soup early for Fontaine’s next two characters Neuvillette and Wriothesley.
