Genshin Impact developer miHoYo sued popular Chinese video site Bilibili in order to find some of its biggest leakers. Here's what's happening.

Chinese news sites reported on September 6 that miHoYo is suing Bilibili, in order to find 11 different leakers. The hearings will be happening on September 17 (Thanks, r/Genshin_Impact).

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Genshin Impact leakers hunt - What happened and why is miHoYo suing Bilibili

First, there is actually no bad blood between miHoYo and Bilibili, as the two companies have been working together for years. miHoYo regularly organizes its live streams for the Genshin Impact or Honkai Chinese player base on Bilibili, and this isn't changing anytime soon.

However, due to privacy laws in China, miHoYo can't directly ask BIlibili for private user information. This can only be revealed through court. As such, miHoYo is using this roundabout way of suing Bilibili to ultimately sue the leakers.

miHoYo aims to stop 11 different leakers in total. Note that these are leakers who have been participating in the Beta Test and breaking NDA, or have been sharing leaked info using miHoYo employees as sources. They are different from data miners, who simply "read" the data from beta tests. It's important to note the difference, as while data miners need to be incredibly talented to pull this off, technically anyone could do it. Meanwhile, Chinese leakers on Bilibili or Chinese forums tend to have specific inside sources and are a bigger threat business-wise.

MiHoYo and the leaks situation

If you're unfamiliar with Genshin Impact, leaks are so popular among the community as fans wish to know which characters are coming next in the gacha. That way they can save up gems.

As such, miHoYo started fighting leaks by officially revealing ahead of time the next update's characters. Kamisato Ayaka, Yoimiya, and Sayu were officially announced for Version 2.0 after Version 1.6 launched. Similarly, Raiden Shogun and Sangonomiya Kokomi were confirmed for Version 2.1 right after the launch of 2.0.

And now, Thoma was officially confirmed as the next character coming in Version 2.2. However, leaks are still the only way to know which banner reruns are coming. Hopefully, miHoYo will start announcing these ahead of time as well.

Genshin Impact Version 2.2 will be launching on October 13, 2021. The JRPG is available on PC, Mobile, and PlayStation. A Switch version is in development too. You can always reach me on Twitter @A_iyane07 to discuss Genshin Impact news.