The recent controversy surrounding Genshin Impact has become so big that even the voice actors have spoken out

Genshin Impact has faced criticism before for whitewashing people with dark skin, but the backlash against such accusations has never reached such a level as it is now, as the release of the new Natlan nation draws ever closer. The nation is primarily based in Latin America, but also includes characters based on African deities. Despite this, the characters were all portrayed as white, leading some fans to call for a boycott if developer Hoyoverse doesn’t change course. The campaign has grown to the point where voice actors working on Genshin Impact and Hoyoverse’s other games are starting to speak out, calling for the studio to update the characters with darker skin, in line with their real-life inspirations.

The promotional trailer released by Hoyoverse for Genshin Impact’s Natlan update includes characters like Ororon, who appears to be based on Ọlọrun, a deity of the African Yoruba religion; Mavuika, likely based on the Māori fire deity Mahuika; and Kinich, who shares the same name as the Mayan sun god Kinich Ahau. Each of these characters and others introduced in Natlan are portrayed as white or light-skinned in Genshin Impact, and while fans were excited to see these cultures represented in the RPG, the representation with light-skinned characters was immediately met with resistance.

Fans have created a petition calling on Hoyoverse to stop whitewashing its characters and engaging in cultural appropriation. They have started the hashtag #BoycottHYV on social media and are asking players to voice their complaints through customer support channels. Several fan artists have begun making models of characters with darker skin tones in case Hoyoverse needs a reference.

While fans voiced their opinions, Genshin Impact voice actors also spoke out, including Sucrose actress Valeria Rodríguez, Yomiya actress Jenny Yokobori, Cyno actor Alejandro Saab, and Sethos actor Zeno Robinson, to name a few.

We’ve reached out to Hoyoverse for comment and will update this story if we receive a response. With Natlan’s release so imminent, it’s unlikely the studio will make any more changes before launch, but we’ll see if the outcry leads to changes in a future update. This isn’t the first time Genshin Impact has faced this kind of controversy, as fans are still upset about how the game portrays characters from the nation of Sumeru, which is based on South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures but also features characters that fans accuse of being whitewashed.

.

For the latest news, Facebook, Þjórsárdalur and Instagram.