Summary
- A major Genshin Impact event in South Korea was canceled due to a bomb threat made on social media, causing the evacuation of attendees.
- The threat was found to be illegitimate after an extensive search of the venue, but authorities are still pursuing the person behind the tweet.
- This cancellation adds to the recent troubles for Genshin Impact, including unpaid voice actors and other controversies involving the game's talent.
HoYoverse has canceled a major Genshin Impact event in South Korea after a bomb threat was made on social media. This development arrived shortly following the release of the Genshin Impact 3.8 update.
The 2023 Genshin Impact Summer Festival started on July 20 across a couple of locations in Seoul Olympic Park. While the show's preceding iteration featured only a single venue, the organizers opted to expand the 2023 event to two locations in order to avoid overcrowding issues from the previous year. The convention was meant to celebrate the Genshin Impact 3.8 summer event and was initially planned to run for four days, through July 23.
However, the event was canceled on the third day after local authorities were alerted to a bomb threat that was made on Twitter. The July 22 tweet from now-suspended user PingPingMon69 claimed that a pipe bomb was planted at the Genshin Impact event's indoor venue at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, also known as the KSPO Dome. The post was accompanied by alleged images of the explosive device, with its author writing that they were "looking forward" to the upcoming explosion. They cited anti-Chinese sentiments as the reason for the terrorist attack threat, as reported by Korean media outlet Globale.
The event was canceled shortly after the tweet went live, with police and firefighters evacuating some 200 attendees, Yonhap reports, citing government officials. The bomb threat itself was ostensibly illegitimate, as local authorities found no traces of explosives at the Seoul venue following an extensive search of the premises. The South Korean police is currently in the process of tracking down the person behind the alarming tweet. The organizers said they were discussing the possibility of continuing the event following the turmoil, but no such move has been announced as of July 24.
This abrupt end to the festival adds to the already troubled month for the hit RPG. Earlier in July, Genshin Impact voice actors alleged HoYoverse hasn't paid them in months, although it later came to light that the issue was actually the fault of Studio Formosa, one of the companies handling voiceovers for the popular game. HoYoverse promptly vowed to make things right for the actor after being notified of the situation.
That development marked the second controversial episode concerning the game's voice talent that emerged in 2023. The first controversy happened back in February, when Genshin Impact dropped Tighnari's voice actor over sexual misconduct allegations.
Genshin Impact is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5, with a Switch port also being in development.