Genshin Impact: Man Arrested for Allegedly Trying to Kill Developer Founders

A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to murder the founders of miHoYo, the developers of Genshin Impact. The man was taken into custody by Shanghai police on April 24th after reportedly entering the company's building armed with a knife. Thankfully, no one was harmed in the incident. According to reporting from GameSpot, the man was frustrated about a Global Anniversary event that was recently cancelled for one of the studio's other games, Honkai Impact 3rd. That event was recently the subject of a bit of controversy, which led miHoYo to cancel it and offer alternate in-game rewards as a result.

The event in question was meant to be a celebration for the third anniversary of Honkai Impact 3rd's global version. According to a Reddit post from Amped-Up-Archos, several fans in China were upset that the game was receiving an event outside the region. While China has received exclusive events in the past, this led to a significant amount of anger from players in the region. Some fans also expressed irritation about bunny suits that the characters were wearing for the tie-in. As a result of all this, miHoYo received multiple death threats, and the game was review bombed.

It's unclear whether or not the man arrested was disappointed the event was announced in the first place, or that it was cancelled, though the former seems more likely than the latter. Regardless of the motivation, the incident shows just how far some players take their frustrations when it comes to gaming. Death threats are unfortunately a common occurrence in the industry, and many developers have cited similar issues from players over the years.

With the alleged man now in custody and the event cancelled, hopefully some of the anger towards the developer will lessen and cooler heads will prevail. While it's easy to get frustrated over video games, it's important to remember that real people are creating these games and maintaining the social media accounts for them. Earlier this month, former Rare community manager Daley Johnson discussed the abuse she and her team received when Sea of Thieves launched. At the end of the day, fans need to remember that these are just video games.

Have you been playing Genshin Impact or Honkai Impact 3rd? What do you think of these miHoYo games? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!