The Chinese Genshin Impact KFC event that was announced late last month has reportedly been partially canceled over concerns about the large number of people lining up in advance.
Earlier this month, the Genshin Impact team announced a collaboration with KFC in China. Fans who purchased a special themed meal could score a cool Genshin Impact-branded KFC bucket and an in-game glider featuring KFC's iconic red and white colors. That event has now gone live in China, but it's had a bit of a problem — it's reportedly proven to be overwhelmingly popular.
Why Was the Genshin Impact KFC Event Reportedly Canceled?
The Genshin Impact KFC event has been reportedly partially canceled because it's proven to be unexpectedly popular. People have been lining up in droves for these items — and that's a problem when you consider COVID-19 regulations.
A submission on the Genshin Impact subreddit has some pictures of what's going on including the wonderfully surreal image of what appears to be a police officer carrying away a cardboard cutout of Noelle and Dliuc. /u/Colin10086 — the Redditor who created that submission — claims that the event has been "canceled urgently" in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
Also included in the Reddit submission is an image of a sign taped to the door of a KFC restaurant. A machine translation of the sign shows that it says what's been reported — the event has been canceled due to health regulations and the store apologizes for the inconvenience. Reports of cancellations currently only involve stores in Shanghai and Hangzhou; it's unclear how many stores have canceled the event or if it has been canceled in other regions as of yet.
Adding to the Reddit report is a collection of images and videos from Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel "ZhugeEX" Ahmad that show dozens of people lining up outside of KFC restaurants in anticipation of the event's launch.
"Ok, this is actually getting insane[,]" Ahmad said in a tweet. "As per the tweet below, there is a KFC x Genshin Impact collab in China. Starting tomorrow fans can get a pin badge as a bonus[.] There are already many people lining up outside KFC's across the country at midnight for a chance to get one first[.]"
Not All Genshin Impact KFC Events Were Closed Down
Update (3/13/21, 1:40 PM) – Subsequent reporting has shown that not every Genshin Impact KFC was shuttered by the police. In fact, some of these locations had a very robust police presence to keep things organized.
Yesterday's reporting showed people lining up for an event that looked likely to launch the following day. However, Niko Partners' Daniel Ahmad has shared photos from a different location in Nanjing where hundreds of people gathered for the event without it being closed down.
"It's worth noting that COVID-19 isn't much of an issue in China and hasn't really been for months at this point," Ahmad explained on Twitter. "Things are back to normal which is why events like this can run, but ofc the turnout was much higher than expectations. So crowd control was implemented by police."
We've reached out to Mihoyo and KFC on this subject and will update this article when we receive a reply. For now, you can play Genshin Impact for free via its official website.
What do you think of the apparent popularity of the Genshin Impact KFC event? Do you think it was reasonable for the event to be reportedly canceled in light of COVID-19 concerns? Let us know in the comments below!