Cloning in the mobile games market has long been treated as an unavoidable evil. But hints of tracing paper with popular AAA, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a sure cause for scandal. Sony learned this from its own experience, which presented the action-adventure game Genshin Impact this weekend.
Fans of Breath of the Wild took this announcement to heart — allegedly Genshin Impact from the Chinese miHoYo borrows too much from their favorite game. Some of the visitors to the ChinaJoy exhibition in Shanghai, where the new title was presented, did not hesitate to show their indignation. They accused Sony of promoting a game that outwardly “completely copies” the popular Breath of the Wild. One fan even smashed the PS4 console to the floor.
The photo was provided by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad
A wave of indignation also rose on Twitter. Here they are looking for similarities not only with Breath of The Wild.
It’s not. But genshin copied several game designs from BOTW and other games to detail. Even its music bears unsettling similarity to BOTW, and the running animation feels like a direct copy of the one in Nier: Automata.
— 白鹰 (@she442321279) August 5, 2019
“Genshin copies several game design chips from BOTW and other games in detail. Even the music resembles BOTW to the point of trembling, and the running animation looks very much like the one in Nier: Automata.”
For other players, the announcement of “BOTW 2” (so called Genshin Impact in social networks) is rather a positive event.
I didn’t know what Genshin Impact was until now.
But now, I want to play it. Because I love BOTW. https://t.co/fjKZfuhzAX
— Elliott Zaagman (@ElliottZaagman) August 4, 2019
“Up to this point, I had never heard of Genshin Impact. But now I want to play it because I love BOTW.”
There are also people who consider Genshin Impact to be a completely independent game, even despite a similar visual.
+sees nintendo fanboys complaining about sony ripping off BOTW+
+watches Genshin Impact Trailer+
Okay… this isn’t anything like BOTW? It’s cell shaded and has an open world if this is what counts as being a direct rip off I can’t even. Combat/Playstyle/Story all DIFFERENT
— Destined-Reliability (@Xandra_Darkwood) August 4, 2019
“Okay… Does she look like a BOTW? Yes, village-shading, yes, an open world, but if that’s enough to call the game a direct carbon copy, then I don’t even know. Action, gameplay, history — everything is different here!”
And some of the players reminded others that they had all seen only the trailer of the game and that it could be completely different by the release.
Genshin Impact may have design details that look very similar to BOTW, but the game is still in its first stages and very little of Genshin Impact has been seen by the public. Calm down. https://t.co/DhOaLX1ooM
— Army&Carat (@DanaTheKpopBoo) August 5, 2019
“Perhaps some of the details of Genshin Impact really resemble BOTW, but they are still working on the game, and only a small part of it was shown to the public. Calm down.”
Daniel Ahmad also shared his opinion. He rebuked the part of the audience that ridiculed the upset Chinese fans of The Legend of Zelda.
Seeing a lot of comments that say “It’s ironic that Chinese would be upset by a game that copies elements from another”
But that’s not true. There is a difference between some developers, who surely do copy games, and Chinese gamers who don’t support it. https://t.co/QNJB7WAj4J
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 4, 2019
“I’ve seen a lot of comments saying, “How ironic that it’s the Chinese who are upset about the copied product.” It’s wrong to say that. There’s a difference between developers who really plagiarize and Chinese gamers who don’t support plagiarism.”
Genshin Impact is announced for 2020. It will be released on PS4, PC and mobile devices. Developer miHoYo promises an open world to explore, a pack of playable characters and a deep combat system. By the way, before that, the studio released a mobile Honkai Impact 3d.
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