HoYoverse president Liu Wei gave an emotional speech at a Genshin Impact event in China, saying that recent criticism from fans has left his team feeling “useless.”
Following a livestream with more information about the game's upcoming version 5.0 update, which adds a new desert region called Natlan, Liu – known in-game as Da Wei – made a surprise appearance on stage to speak to fans at the Genshin FES event in Shanghai.
Liu paused to cry and told those present that the team had suffered over the past year from feedback on previous updates.
“Over the past year, both the Genshin team and I have experienced a lot of fear and confusion,” he said (translated by YouTube channel SentientBamboo).
“That's because last year we really felt like we had been through really tough times. We heard a lot of noise [feedback] and some of it was really, really sharp-tongued and made our whole project team feel really useless.
“Some people said our project team was really arrogant and said they wouldn’t listen to anything. But it’s like [presenter] Aquaria said: “We're actually like everyone else, we're gamers too. We all feel things that other people feel.”
“We just heard too much noise. We had to calm down and recognize the real voices of the travelers.”
Liu explained that at the beginning of the year, when the development team was “feeling really lost,” they began traveling the world and talking to players about their feelings about the game and what it meant to them.
“I heard all kinds of sounds and felt everyone's love for Genshin. I also heard the problems some people had and the reasons why some people didn't join the [game’s] Continent of Treyvat,” he said.
“The feedback from these travelers has been very encouraging to all of us. So when I returned, I had many meetings with the team and after many meetings, we reached a consensus – the only thing that cannot be changed for Genshin is the journey we will experience with our travelers. Everything else can be changed.
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“That's why you saw so many changes in the Natlan stream. Whether it's content, in-game perks, or game improvements, we think as long as the Travelers are happy, we can change anything.”
He added: “I know that we may still be missing a lot in the future. I also know that even today we cannot meet all expectations. But after the fear and confusion that the team and I have experienced over the last year, I feel that we have also received a lot of courage and trust from Travelers.”
The Genshin Impact version 5.0 update will be released on August 28th.