Whitewashing complaints levied at Genshin Impact builders Hoyoverse after 3.0 update leak

Genshin Impact’s roster is all the time rising — and leaking. Four new Sumeru characters coming with model 3.0 had their names leaked: Tighnari, Collei, Dori, and the Dendro Traveller. Barely every week later, we noticed what the whole new lineup truly appears to be like like, and followers aren’t precisely happy.

Genshin Impact information account @genshinmains bought its fingers on an image of the entire squad. You can see Tighnari on the far left, Collei second from the left, Dori second from the appropriate, and the Dendro Traveller on the far right. Altogether, the group appears to be like like some other assortment of characters — and that’s the issue.

Version 3.0’s new characters hail from the aforementioned Sumeru area, which the Genshin Impact group usually sees as being primarily based on Southwest Asian / North African cultures. That’s clear even from the title: Sumeru seems like Sumer, the early civilization that when sat in what’s now Iraq. However, the brand new character leaks don’t precisely have complexions that match that a part of the world, and that’s where the accusations of whitewashing and colorism are coming from. One Genshin fan, @T0kyoGh0st, jokingly offered the controversy in a Twitter meme.

Another fan, @tb_wwl5, took it upon themselves to re-color the characters within the leaked splash artwork that additionally discovered its approach onto the web. Their art work is stirring the pot even additional within the replies, as another Genshin Impact followers are sad with the modifications that had been made. Some additionally level out that Collei beforehand appeared within the game’s manga collection, so her look matches her light-skinned look in that. The hubbub is demonstrating two issues very clearly: the group is captivated with new characters, and their pores and skin tone has folks speaking, for higher and for worse.

Should Hoyoverse need to make modifications to any of those characters, it does have time. Genshin Impact model 3.0 is predicted to reach in late August. In the meantime, its power appears to be targeted on update 2.8. New fantasy-inspired Diluc and Fischl skins had been simply revealed for that.