Western gamers up in arms after mega-hit Genshin Impact censors words like ‘Taiwan’ and ‘Hong Kong’ in chat feeds
- Threads about chat censorship related to Genshin Impact first started to build up on the game’s subreddit page before hitting social media
- The list of banned words in Chinese games due to political sensitivities runs long
Genshin Impact has been described as the biggest global launch of a Chinese game ever but now Western gamers are calling it out for censoring the words “Taiwan” and “Hong Kong”, among other sensitive political topics in its in-game chat.
Conversations about chat censorship related to Genshin Impact, developed by Shanghai-based miHoYo, first started to build up on the game’s subreddit page.
The controversy then spilled over into social media after well-known Twitch streamer Kazuma Hashimoto, also known as justicekazzy, posted a clip showing how the popular multiplayer online game automatically turns sensitive words into strings of asterisks when typed into the game’s chat box.
“Due to Genshin Impact censoring the words Taiwan and Hong Kong in the in-game chat, I will no longer be posting about the game,” Hashimoto, who is based in Germany, wrote on his Twitter account.
“Yeah … I can’t play it in good conscience,” Hashimoto told the Post when contacted directly. “I’ve raised money for pro-democracy organisations in Hong Kong before, and my best friend is from there, so it wouldn’t be right. And I’m not losing anything by not playing.”
Last year, Hashimoto decided to quit playing games created by Activision Blizzard after the company moved to punish a Hong Kong e-sports player for chanting a Hong Kong protest slogan in a post-game interview.
