Genshin Impact Is Being Review Bombed, Fan Base Turning Against the Game

Genshin Impact is currently being review-bombed in China, on top of suffering a massive loss of social media followers. Its ongoing difficulties appear to be related to HoYoverse's recent livestream announcing the Genshin Impact 4.4 Banners and some additional events.

The fandom of the hit gacha game has never shied away from voicing its displeasure about content that it perceives as inadequate in any way. The RPG's commemorative events were among the most frequent targets of fan backlash, with the third-anniversary event drawing particular ire from Genshin Impact fans back in September 2023.

The latest wave of such player activism was seemingly prompted by HoYoverse's 4.4 broadcast, which saw the developer announce players would receive a mere trio of Genshin Impact Intertwined Fates—a type of premium currency used for rolling event Banner characters and weapons—as part of the upcoming Latern Rite festival event. In response to those lackluster rewards, the fandom swarmed the game's BiliBili download page with 1-star reviews, in addition to unfollowing its official Douyin page en masse.

As first noted by Twitter user GenshinUpdate, the RPG's Douyin account went from having 9.3 million followers on January 21 to 8.7 million the following day, after the 4.4 broadcast. While this isn't the first time that the Genshin Impact fandom criticized the annual Lantern Rite freebies, which are given away as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, it would appear that this year's rewards are being perceived as particularly lackluster relative to the recent Honkai: Star Rail promos. As a reminder, HoYoverse's newest game is currently giving away a 5-star character to anyone who logs in and completes its very first mission right now.

The ongoing backlash has also affected the Chinese social media accounts of Heytea, KFC, and PizzaHut, among other frequent Genshin Impact partners, which many disgruntled fans are now unfollowing, as originally noted by Twitter user hxg_diluc.