Chinese Breath of the Wild Ripoff Sparks Outrage Among Fans

Chinese Breath of the Wild Ripoff Sparks Outrage Among Fans

Fans are outraged at what appears to be a blatant ripoff of The Legend of Zelda; Breath of the Wild, which saw heavy promotion from Sony at the ChinaJoy gaming convention.

Sony had a significant presence to promote the PS4 at ChinaJoy 2019, which is China’s signature gaming event. The Japanese platform holder announced numerous titles specifically aimed towards the Chinese market. Among these announcements was a new RPG entitled Genshin Impact. 

The game certainly bears a striking resemblance to Nintendo’s 2017 blockbuster Breath of the Wild. From the art to gameplay to the combat to the menus – a variety of aspects of the game seem to borrow heavily from the latest major Zelda title. Check out the trailer below to see this for yourself.

It didn’t take long for fans to notice Genshin Impact’s many parallels to Breath of the Wild. Fans of both Sony and Nintendo immediately voiced their outrage. As industry analyst Daniel Ahmad reports on Twitter, one man even brought his PS4 to the convention and smashed it in protest on the show floor. Meanwhile, other fans held their Switches in the air in protest whenever Genshin Impact appeared on the main ChinaJoy stages. Some have called the game a “shameless” attempt on Sony’s part to plagiarize Nintendo.

When Mihoyo unveiled Genshin Impact for PS4, many noted the game was inspired by BOTW.

Some fans of BOTW are upset that Sony is promoting this game because of the similarities + they think it’s shameless of Sony.

This man smashed his PS4 at ChinaJoy in protest. pic.twitter.com/jwJqwREgaz

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 3, 2019

The developers of Genshin Impact have not yet commented on the ChinaJoy plagiarism controversy. Regardless, it is currently planned to release on PS4, PC, and mobile worldwide in 2020. Meanwhile, a true sequel to the actual Breath of the Wild is also on the way in the future.