Image: miHoYo/YouTube
Fan translations speculate that Chinese regulations played a role
The developers of Mihoyo’s free-to-play game Genshin Impact are releasing a set of new, more conservative outfits for four of the game’s characters. The following characters will get new skins: Dandelion Knight” Jean, “Gliding Champion” Amber, “Thorny Benevolence” Rosaria, and “Astral Reflection” Mona. The alterations — which will become the default character design for players using Chinese servers — will become an additional optional skin for players stateside.
Mihoyo is based in Shanghai, China, and the changes were supposedly made in order to keep character designs in line with Chinese regulations, according to a fan-translated post from Mihoyo. However, the post that was translated from Mihoyo has since been edited, and it no longer mentions regulations as the reason behind the change.
Technovanguard has reached out to Mihoyo to confirm that the change was enacted because of Chinese regulations and will update this article if we receive a response.
The alterations should not impact players stateside. “The default outfits of the above characters will be retained,” Mihoyo said. So if you like the new outfits, you can opt to change into them, but otherwise, you won’t see a difference.
The changes are relatively minimal and may not be reflective of the final redesigns, since Mihoyo has said that the images are not indicative of any final product. One Twitter user made a handy graphic comparing the before and after versions of each outfit. One of the more notable changes comes for Mona, who no longer wears her bodysuit that resembles a one-piece swimsuit. Jean now wears a button-up top that covers her entire chest. You can view Mihoyo’s original Twitter post and the comparisons below.
Comparison photos for people like me who could barely tell the difference pic.twitter.com/fHvMgoFxi3
— ash (@nctzbebe) January 4, 2022
What’s the cost of changing the default outfit of your characters? Mihoyo said that players on Chinese servers will all get 1200 Primogems in compensation, since they’ll no longer have access to the old designs.
