HoYoVerse is cracking down on accounts and individuals leaking information about its games. According to a report published in Axios, miHoYo – the Shanghai-based owner of the HoYoVerse brand and parent company of Genshin Impact publisher Cognosphere – requested a California court to subpoena information from social media platform Twitter regarding the identity of individuals running prominent Genshin Impact leak accounts. [Thanks, Axios Gaming!]
The subpoena were issued in February 2023 on behalf of miHoYo and request that Twitter provide “names, phone numbers, IP addresses, and other information sufficient to identify” the individuals who run the accounts @merlin_impact, @GenshlnWorld and @Xwides. These three accounts have all posted leaked information about unreleased portions of Genshin Impact. The sources of the info are often unclear, but likely from test builds of the game distributed to playtesters by miHoYo, or via datamining activities. In response, the operator of @GenshlnWorld appears to have closed their account, while the operator of @Xwides has made their account private. @merlin_impact is still active, but its last post is dated for February 4, 2023.
This isn’t the first time miHoYo has taken action against a Genshin Impact leak phenomenon. As far back as 2021, miHoYo publicly requested players to refrain from spreading leaked info about version 1.5. In 2022 and 2023, TorrentFreak reported that miHoYo went after prominent Genshin Impact leakers based on Discord, such as Ubatcha, the Genshin Impact Leakers’ Group, and House of Daena. The global game industry tends to vary with its treatment of leakers. Some developers and publishers complain or turn a blind eye and encourage their communities to ignore leaks, while others take legal action, ranging from using copyright strikes to suing perpetrators.
Genshin Impact is available on iOS devices, Android devices, the PS4, the PS5, and PC. The next content update, version 3.5, goes live in March 2023.
Related: 10 Best and Hottest Genshin Impact Female Characters on Gamepur
