Hoyoverse and the Poor Representation of POC in Their Video Games

FlyMe2TheMoon was the first video game published by MiHoYo Studio in 2011. While FlyMe2TheMoon was a simple mobile game about a witch trying to reach the moon, it later sparked the creation of a franchise of games known as Honkai. MiHoYo rebranded itself as Hoyoverse in 2022 but, since the creation of Honkai, the company has drawn inspiration for its characters from many diverse cultures yet has failed to represent the people of those cultures well. Frankly, it is disrespectful and ignorant on Hoyoverse’s part when it comes to how they choose to represent people of color in their video games.

 

The argument for Hoyoverse’s racism and colorism surfaced during 2022, and with it came arguments against the racism accusations and excuses for the company. The usual claims were that Hoyoverse is a Chinese company, implying that because they are Chinese, they are racist. Another is that their games are set in fantasy worlds, and do not need to adhere to the real world.

 

Though, the moment the lineup of Sumeru characters was released in 2022, most players began to say, “hey, this is not okay”! These people claimed that Hoyoverse was ignorant and racist for their character design choices in Sumeru. They also agree that, because Hoyoverse draws inspiration from these diverse cultures and nations, they should do proper research and respectfully represent the people of those places.

 

Outside of the Honkai series, Hoyoverse’s first open-world RPG, Genshin Impact, released in 2020. Four years ago, a video called the “Teyvat Chapter Preview” was posted on the game’s official YouTube channel. This video teased the different nations that would be added to the game in later patch updates, along with characters that would play major roles in these nations. These nations are Mondstadt (based off of Germany), Liyue (based off of China), Inazuma (based off of Japan), Sumeru (based off of the Southwest Asia and North Africa region), Fontaine (based off of France), Natlan (based off of nations that predominantly speak Spanish), and Snezhnaya (based off of Russia). For the game’s first two years following its release, players had no complaints and little criticism about the game’s quality and content. However, in 2022 came the 3.0 patch update for Genshin Impact, and with it, the first areas of the nation of Sumeru.

 

As stated previously, Sumeru is based off of the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. Knowing this, players were expecting some more diversity in characters’ skin tones and features along with the release of this nation. However, a few weeks before the release of 3.0, a story teaser was released for Sumeru, showcasing a few new characters’ designs. Much to many players’ disappointment and frustration, these characters did not look much different than characters released in previous updates and even wore very stereotypical and orientalist clothing. While at the time, it was not uncommon to find people criticizing Genshin Impact for how they chose to represent people from the SWANA region, it was even more common to find people disregarding it and making excuses for the company. During the years 2023 and most of 2024, it seemed the issue had been mostly forgotten as the game had moved onto the next nation, Fontaine. But, in the summer of 2024, the game’s narrative moved onto Natlan. Like with Sumeru, another story teaser was released and showcased new characters that, too, shared the same pale skin tone that most of the characters have in the game. The few characters that are considered “dark skinned” barely have what can be considered a tan. And the character with the darkest skin tone in the game is this strange gray-brown color.

 

Hoyoverse has this strange habit of making their characters with darker skin tones grayer and ashier than they should be. And most of the time, they are never consistent with their characters’ skin tones either. Usually, a character’s in-game model will be “the bar” for their skin tone. But, from there, Hoyoverse will put out official art including these characters, but will whitewash them more often than not.

 

In Honkai Impact 3rd, there is a character named Carole. Carole has stated herself that she is a Black girl. However, upon looking at her, one would think she is simply a girl with a light tan. Carole says at one point in the game that her skin did in fact used to be much darker because she is half-African and half-Japanese. However, she bleached her skin in high school so she would not be bullied. Carole’s mother, Lewis, is African, and she is shown in a Honkai manga from 2019. Lewis is an offensive stereotype of Black women. She is drawn as muscular and masculine to such an extent that one would think she simply is a man if they were not told she is a woman. And she was not drawn intended to appear simply as an androgynous woman or simply a woman with muscles, she was drawn to be mistaken as a man, and with harmful stereotypes in mind.

 

In Honkai Star Rail, a girl named Sparkle was introduced in 2024. In the same update she was introduced, she had a conversation with another character named Aventurine. Now, Aventurine’s true name is Kakavasha and in the universe of Honkai Star Rail, he is the last of the Sigonian people, which are based off of Romani people in the real world. In this conversation, Sparkle goes on about how “Sigonians are all liars and thieves”, and in the Chinese text of the game, she even goes as far as to call him a racial slur. Instead of asserting that Sparkle’s racism is a bad thing in the narrative, it is simply present in the story and then disregarded. In fact, Sparkle was heavily utilized in promotional content throughout the rest of 2024 and has become a fan favorite. It is clear that her racism was a small outlet for Hoyoverse to project racism into their game, as it was never addressed again.

 

In conclusion, Hoyoverse often chooses to represent certain people of color in their video games, but fails to do so accurately and respectfully. It has gotten to a point where their player base is unsatisfied and even offended with many of their creative choices. Perhaps, Hoyoverse will see how harmful the precedents and stereotypes that they include in their games are and change how they choose to represent these people in their games.