Genshin Impact Petition To Improve Representation Reaches 40K Signatures

A new petition to improve representation in the game has now reached over 40 thousand signatures. The petition was created shortly after the reveal of the first three characters from Natlan, Kachina, Kinich, and Mualani in the teaser trailer shown at the end of the Version 4.8 livestream. However, the online petition gained even more traction following the reveal of several Natlan characters in , which created a huge amount of backlash due to the lack of representation in its mostly white ensemble of characters in a region inspired by Africa and South America.

Now, that petition on Change.org started being shared more among fans of the game who are unsatisfied with developer HoYoverse’s treatment of characters. The game is being accused of whitewashing its cast of characters — which should have darker skin tones — as well as cultural appropriation. The petition calls on the developer to revise many of its contents, which date back to characters from Sumeru, too, and focus on creating more diverse and inclusive characters in. The lack of characters with dark skin in, another of HoYoverse’s products, is also pointed out in the online petition.

The popular action RPG by HoYoverse is getting larger with each expansion, but its overload of content is not its main problem: it’s farming.

The lack of representation and cultural appropriation cited in the petition generated a lot of commotion among the community following the reveal of the Natlan characters. In addition to players themselves, voice actors from the game and several content creators joined the cause and spoke out against what is being called colorism by HoYoverse. In an X (formerly Twitter) thread, the user Timely Harmony compiles posts made by several of these noteworthy members of the community. Valeria Rodríguez, the English voice actor for Sucrose, for instance, talks about how HoYoverse should respect the very source of inspiration they draw from.

“This is not the first time the game is challenged due