Genshin Impact has been in the news for all of the wrong reasons lately, and this time, the developers themselves have grabbed the spotlight by apparently taking legal action to pursue Twitter leakers.
With the dust still settling on the dreadful situation involving former voice actor Elliot Gindi, miHoYo has applied for a California court to subpoena Twitter directly, in an effort to reveal the identities behind three accounts notorious for leaking details about upcoming updates.
As first reported by Axios Gaming, the accounts in question — Merlin Impact, Genshin World and XWides — had each leaked images and details from unreleased portions of the game, with pleas made to Twitter to delete the offending tweets going unheeded.
The subpoenas request that Twitter provide, “information, including name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), e-mail address(es), and IP address(es), or other information within your possession”.
In comments made to Axios, the user behind the Merlin Impact account stated, “I don’t know why they can’t change their strategy,” and that, “If they are really coming after me, that mean[s] I’m a next target now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”
Leaks are nothing new in gaming, of course, though Genshin Impact’s massive reach means that it is a particularly popular target for fans starved for immediate information. Typically, the contents of updates are already public knowledge by the time they’ve been officially announced.
For those keeping score, this is not the first time miHoYo has played hardball in this manner, having previously done the same for prolific leaker Ubatcha in December of last year, among others.
The timing of the latest batch of subpoenas, perhaps not coincidentally, comes as miHoYo is gearing up for their next major release, Honkai: Star Rail, a sci-fi RPG with gacha elements not unlike its predecessor. Its closed beta began on Feb. 10, with an anticipated release date later this year.
