Genshin Impact's own voice talent denounce MiHoYo's "whitewashing" portrayal of new character designs

gamesindustry.biz:

Genshin Impact's own voice talent have publicly denounced developer MiHoYo, questioning "the execution of its research and inclusion of elements/aspects of other cultures".

Whilst all Genshin Impact regions are heavily influenced by real-life places, its fans and English voice cast have called out MiHoYo's design choices made for upcoming region, Natlan. Whilst it is ostensibly inspired by African, Latin American, and Australsia nations, its character design does not represent the diversity of the real-life countries.

"If a game draws so heavily from real-world cultures, and bases a character on the supreme deity of Yoruba religion, and that character ends up looking like pale sasuke Batman, people are absolutely within their rights to demand better representation, ESPECIALLY when said game has a clearly-stated commitment to a *global* audience," said Albedo's voice actor, Khoi Dao.

"I hope y'all keep making your voices heard, and I hope they listen."

"I really hope that a video game company listens to its fanbase when valid criticism is made multiple years in a row about the execution of its research and inclusion of elements/aspects of other cultures," said Anne Yatco, who voices Raiden Shogun.

Valeria Rodríguez, who voices Sucrose, added: "I could stay quiet about this and protect myself, but us folks of colour don’t always need to stay quiet and let others fk us over and disrespect us so that we can continue to advance at half the pace of our white peers.

"If you're going to use real-world deities, RESPECT them. If you're basing off of real cultures, RESPECT THAT. I'm fine with things being inspired by various cultures - that's awesome. Representation is dope. But bare minimum do some research and show some cultural appreciation."

Rodríguez then compared Genshin Impact's depiction of the "whitewashed" supreme Yoruba deity Olorun with that of the same deity as stylised in Smite. Interestingly, the deity's name has been changed to "Ororon" in English, too, even though