Leaks are pretty commonplace throughout media but seem to be especially prevalent in the world of gaming.
One of the most active leak communities around in the gaming space is that of Genshin Impact, which has a dedicated leaks Reddit page with over 373,000 active members, Instagram accounts dedicated to sharing leaks, many Genshin Discord channels, and a number of massively popular Twitter accounts that always unveil early looks at content.
The Genshin community loves leaks, but this space may be at risk now miHoYo has decided to take action against prominent leak accounts: MiHoYo has had the California court issue subpoenas against three different well-known Twitter Genshin leak pages.
Related: Genshin unites four Archons in special video celebrating Lantern Rite
The three Twitter accounts in question are Merlin_Impact, GenshinWorld, and Xwides. Merlin_Impact has 53,400 followers, GenshinWorld has 89,700 followers, and Xwides leads with 92,600 followers.
This is quite a big following in terms of Genshin leaks and these accounts are certainly among the top ones players regularly visit to preview what is coming next.
A reputable reporter who recently talked with miHoYo about a potential release date for Honkai: Star Rail and the status of the Switch version of Genshin shared an image of the official court document to Twitter. The subpoena calls for Twitter to help the devs by revealing the true identities of the individuals that run the three Genshin leak accounts.
All three accounts previously shared content earlier on in the year that miHoYo then asked Twitter to help them take down, according to this journalist. There were a few different tweets up on each of the accounts that miHoYo wanted to be taken down, but all of them are believed to still be up.
MiHoYo called for these posts to be taken down over alleged copyright breaches which may mean the individuals involved shared information they legally should not have.
Individuals who participate in Genshin’s beta previews have to sign a confidentiality agreement with miHoYo. This means they are not at liberty to share what they learn and thus miHoYo can take legal action against those who do break this agreement.
Whether the three individuals that are being targeted were involved in beta testing and broke a confidentiality agreement is unclear, but it is certainly a possibility considering the dev’s subpoena against them.
The same journalist that shared the official subpoena also revealed miHoYo recently cracked down on leaks the Genshin community shared on Discord too, which means this does not seem to be just a one-time and one-instance kind of situation. Instead, this might hint the Genshin devs have decided to get serious about leaks. If this subpoena goes the way miHoYo hopes it will and this becomes the new normal among the Genshin community, this could jeopardize the whole future of the Genshin leak community.
While many other companies regularly crack down on any leaks that surface, the Genshin leak community has been mostly moving as a force of its own with no real repercussions since the game first launched.
MiHoYo has never been okay with the leaks that have surfaced and have previously stated a few times they do not stand for them, such as in an official blog and in a tweet, but because players have been sharing leaks around for so long, a thriving community has developed full of excited players who love to see what’s coming.
Players love to see what the future holds in Genshin for a variety of reasons. Speculation is a key reason as Genshin players like to theorize about where the world of Teyvat will take them next and bond over discussing what’s to come.
Because of how rare and precious the game’s primary currency is, players particularly like knowing whether they should save or spend their precious Primogems based on the characters that are unveiled to be arriving in the future. Players can oftentimes decide whether they want to wish on a character or save based on the information that surfaces from leaks.
At the heart of it all, Genshin players simply love the world of Teyvat and are excited to know what comes next, which is likely the biggest reason the leak community continues to thrive.
The community doesn’t mean any harm, but the developer’s concern over the constant and continuous massive leaks, especially huge ones like the Sumeru leak that completely spoiled the entire cast of the Dendro region, is also understandable.
In regards to the subpoena news, one individual shared their belief that this decision sets “a scary precedent” since they believed leaks ultimately originate from the company and thus “consequences are theirs to potentially deal with, not second-hand messengers.”
The sentiment that this individual shared is one most of the community has echoed in past, as most players feel if something is easily uncovered by fans then it is miHoYo’s fault for not ensuring it was better kept under wraps.
On the other side of the argument, other individuals have speculated that some fans do utilize illegal means to uncover leaks which is why they believe miHoYo has sought action against leakers in certain specific cases like this one.
While some Genshin players are worried about what this legal action may mean for the future of the leak community, others are feeling fine about the situation including one of the three leakers that are being targeted by this subpoena.
The individual running the Merlin_Impact account talked with the same previously mentioned journalist and seemed entirely undaunted by the entire situation.
Whether this situation will be another small one that leads to nothing changing or if it will end up changing the entire future of the Genshin leak community remains to be seen. For now, Twitter has not responded to the subpoena, which means that no further action beyond miHoYo’s court order has been taken so far.
