‘Fan’ allegedly motivated by ‘bunny girl DLC’ controversy
On April 24, a knife-wielding attacker was arrested at the offices of Genshin Impact developer miHoYo. While police are still to release an official statement, it is being reported that the man invaded the developer’s Shanghai offices, allegedly with the intent to kill miHoYo’s founders and then himself.
According to reports from Chinese news outlet Baidu (as translated by The Gamer), the alleged attacker sought revenge on miHoYo for reasons pertaining to an update to one of the developer’s other releases: Honkai Impact 3rd. As part of the free-to-play title’s third-anniversary celebrations, miHoYo released a video featuring the cast dancing in “bunny girl” outfits, with said skins and dance emotes being made available in-game as paid DLC, but only in territories outside of China.
Some members of the Honkai Impact community took exception to this on several levels. Some were frustrated that the DLC was excluded from China, while others believed that the “bunny girl” look wasn’t appropriate attire for Honkai Impact‘s cast of war-faring waifus. On April 22, miHoYo decided to abandon the event altogether. It is being reported that the attacker has admitted to this controversy being a key motivator in their assault on miHoYo — though it should be reclarified that the police are yet to officially confirm this.
Thankfully, nobody was injured in the attack, with the attacker subdued and arrested before they could carry out their terrifying intentions. As of this writing, neither the police nor miHoYo have officially addressed the incident.