The next day.
Early in the morning, Lin Yuan was woken up by the ringing of his phone.
Frowning, he picked it up and answered—only to hear a rather ridiculous piece of news.
“Genshin Impact copied someone?
What kind of joke is this?”
Lin Yuan laughed.
In this world, there weren’t even that many AAA games to begin with.
As for large-scale open-world AAA games like Genshin Impact, they were even rarer.
In fact, Genshin Impact could be said to be a pioneer of anime-style open-world games here.
Calling it plagiarism?
That was just absurd.
Lin Yuan assumed Da Zhuang was joking.
“If you don’t believe me, go check Weibo’s trending list!”
“The news is already spreading like wildfire!”
Da Zhuang’s anxious voice came through the phone.
Hearing his urgency, Lin Yuan—though still skeptical—opened Weibo’s trending page.
After a quick glance, his expression froze.
He actually saw a trending topic linking Genshin Impact with plagiarism!
#The Shame of Domestic Games!
Exposing How Genshin Uses Patriotism as a Cover for Plagiarism!#
“…Huh?”
“What’s going on?”
Lin Yuan was stunned.
He never expected that overnight, Genshin Impact had gone from “the pride of domestic games” to “the shame of domestic games.”
If it were just a few ridiculous comments, that would be one thing.
But this was trending—and at a high rank.
He quickly clicked into the topic and opened the most popular article.
It was written by a Chinese student studying abroad in the UK.
Judging by the IP location, the student was from a well-known university.
“Oh?
A top student, huh?”
Lin Yuan grew even more puzzled.
How did his game end up getting attacked by an overseas student? You are reading on g.com, the official source.
He began reading carefully.
At the beginning, the student spoke as an ordinary Chinese player, describing the hardships of the domestic gaming industry.
It resonated with many readers.
Then he offered encouraging words, urging developers to work hard and reach world-class standards.
But suddenly, the topic shifted to plagiarism.
“No matter what, the development of our domestic gaming industry must rely on real effort!”
“If success is achieved through plagiarism, it is utterly shameful!”
“Yesterday, I discovered such a plagiarized game in our country—and it has even gained some popularity.”
“Worse still, some people are calling it the ‘pride of domestic games.'”
“As a Chinese citizen, I feel ashamed of these people!”
“To be so shameless as to plagiarize and then claim it as your own—this is truly despicable!”
“Next, I will break down exactly how this game plagiarizes!”
#A Detailed Breakdown of Genshin Impact’s Plagiarism!#
“First!
Players should know that on the way to Mondstadt, you encounter a massive dragon-like creature.”
[Image of Dvalin]
“Look carefully—this creature has a flat snout and four limbs, resembling a large lizard rather than a traditional Chinese dragon.
Clearly copied from Western games!”
“Second, the city of Mondstadt, which amazed countless players.”
[Image of Mondstadt]
“Take a closer look—windmills, statues, churches, architectural styles… where is the Chinese influence here?”
“Third, the Knights of Mondstadt.”
[Group image]
“This one doesn’t even need explanation.”
“Knights are inherently tied to Western culture.
When have we ever had knights in China?”
“A city centered around freedom, governed by a knightly order—this is obviously a Western game!”
“Although I don’t know which exact game MiHoYo copied, it must be from some advanced Western developer!”
“They may have even used underhanded methods to steal the core code of an unreleased top-tier game!”
“Then they simply added their own voice acting and repackaged it as an original product!”
“But think carefully—after twenty years of development, what level is our domestic gaming industry at?”
“Even giants like Tencent and NetEase can’t achieve this level.
How could a small, unknown company possibly have such technology?”
“If they really had such capabilities, they would have already risen through smaller projects.
Why would they remain unknown until now?”
“This proves beyond doubt—they plagiarized!”
“Shameful!
Despicable!
Tragic!”
“How can our great nation tolerate such behavior?”
“It’s not scary if we can’t make advanced games—what’s scary is plagiarizing without realizing it!”
“If we don’t boycott companies like this, that will be the true darkest moment for our domestic gaming industry!”
At the end of the article, the student’s tone became passionate and righteous, as if he were a crusader for justice.
Judging by the engagement, he had successfully stirred up public emotions.
After reading the article, countless onlookers took the moral high ground and began condemning Genshin Impact and MiHoYo.
Within a short time, the article had been shared hundreds of thousands of times and received over a million likes.
And its popularity was still skyrocketing— rapidly climbing toward the number one trending spot.
Previously, Genshin-related topics had barely reached the top 30.
But now, all the positive trends were quickly being suppressed.
“Damn…”
Lin Yuan stared at the shifting rankings in disbelief.
He knew very well that Genshin Impact hadn’t plagiarized any Western game.
But what puzzled him was how such a false article could gain so much traction.
The game had only been out for a day, with just over five million downloads.
Logically, neither praise nor criticism should have reached this level of exposure.
The speed at which this article was spreading was… abnormal.
But regardless, he couldn’t ignore it.
If Genshin Impact got labeled as plagiarized before it even fully took off, it would be a serious blow to MiHoYo.
Meanwhile, employees in the company had also begun noticing the situation.
The company chat was already in a state of panic.
Lin Yuan quickly sent out a message, calling all department heads to an emergency meeting.
/AkaneTranslations Like it ?