Honkai: Star Rail publisher Cognosphere is suing a player for $150,000 for allegedly violating copyright laws. Cognosphere has worked with developer HoYoverse for years to release three successful gacha games, namely Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero.
Gacha games are often the subject of many leaks, with people sharing datamined information about content ranging from alleged playable characters to maps and story details on various social media channels. A lot of times, these pieces of content are potentially early or scrapped builds of the game's features. This is why companies like Cognosphere often go after alleged leakers who share information and early gameplay clips from any of its games. Previously, Cognosphere filed a copyright infringement case against Ubatcha, a prominent HoYoverse leaker, and the Discord server they run for publishing leaked details about Genshin Impact.
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In its latest lawsuit, filed on June 6, 2025, in the United States District Court's Central District of California, Cognosphere is suing a player known as Alfredo Lopez for $150,000. According to court documents shared by Game File, the company is filing a copyright infringement case against the player for allegedly streaming Honkai: Star Rail gameplay featuring then-unreleased 5-star character Castorice a month ahead of her launch in Version 3.2. Additionally, Cognosphere is also looking to pursue a copyright claim, which could see the player paying the $150,000 fee if he is found guilty.
Honkai: Star Rail Publisher Condemns Player's Discord Stream
The lawsuit claims that Lopez's Discord stream was viewed by over 12,000 members, but it didn't reveal how the player managed to get a hold of the leaked material. In Cognosphere's complaint, it condemned the act of sharing information about Honkai: Star Rail and other HoYoverse games prior to their scheduled release because it could spoil the enjoyment of many fans. Likewise, the company emphasized that obtaining a game update unlawfully could harm Honkai: Star Rail players' overall user experience.
It seems like Lopez might not be alone in this, as industry analyst Daniel Ahmad stated on Twitter that Cognosphere has apparently initiated over 500 legal cases. This allegedly includes cases in China, which have led to leaked content being labelled as "a violation of trade secrets." If this is true, then fans of Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero might see more crackdowns on leaks in the coming months or the next year, especially since HoYoverse plans to launch a new game, Honkai: Nexus Anima, in the near future.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 90%
- Released
- April 26, 2023
- ESRB
- Teen / Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Simulated Gambling, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
- Publisher(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Turn-Based RPG
