An unnamed man allegedly breached the offices of Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact developer Mihoyo while reportedly wielding a knife with the intent to kill the company's founders.
Genshin Impact has rapidly become one of the most popular free-to-play games on the planet. Featuring a mix of pretty good gameplay, lovable characters, and compelling gacha mechanics, it's not too surprising that a lot of fans latched onto the game. Unfortunately, the same passion that makes games like Genshin Impact a success also apparently carries an element of danger — reports are indicating that a knife-wielding man allegedly attacked the company's offices over the weekend.
Why Were the Offices of Genshin Impact Developer Mihoyo Allegedly Attacked?
The alleged attack on the offices of Genshin Impact developer Mihoyo might not have had to do with Genshin Impact at all; rather, speculation indicates that the alleged assailant might have had a problem with recent changes to Honkai Impact 3rd, another game from the same company.
"An individual was arrested on April 24 for attempting to assassinate the founders of MiHoYo (Genshin Impact) with a knife," read a tweet from Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel "ZhugeEX" Ahmad. "The individual was arrested at the MiHoYo HQ in Shanghai. The motive is believed to be dissatisfaction with a recent game update in Honkai Impact 3rd."
This information is corroborated by a post on Baidu's Baijiahao platform (via Gamespot), a blogging site for Chinese-language speakers. Unfortunately, there isn't much more in the way of details, although a possible motivation for the alleged attack is suggested in the blog post.
Honkai Impact 3rd recently introduced new bunny girl costumes for its characters. These items were released worldwide with the exception of China, but it still apparently caused enough of a backlash that the game's official Twitter account responded and apologized for the event.
"We recently received feedback on the GLB 3rd-anniversary story event and promotional videos featuring bunny girl designs and dance moves that were out of character and inappropriate," read a portion of Mihoyo's statement on the matter. "We sincerely apologize for these issues!"
It should be noted, however, that a new season recently started for the game; the launch of a new season (or any number of other issues) could be the cause for the alleged attack.
No one really knows the motivation behind the incident just yet. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the alleged assailant was arrested. Hopefully, more details will come to light soon; we've reached out to Genshin Impact developer Mihoyo for comment and will update this article when we receive a reply.
What do you think of the alleged attack on Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact developer Mihoyo? Do you think game developers and publishers need to be more security-conscious in light of incidents such as this? Let us know in the comments below!