The Genshin Impact event being held at Chinese KFC locations was cancelled due to overwhelming demand and large gatherings.
MiHoYo announced during the last update stream that they were teaming up with the Chinese branch of KFC to celebrate their hit gacha action-RPG by offering customers some exclusively swag. Sixteen KFC locations in China were to be decorated with Genshin Impact posters and character standees of Noelle and Diluc in KFC-themed costumes [1, 2]. You can find the advertisement for the event here.
Fans could acquire exclusive swag by saying “Meet in another world, enjoy delicious food!” when ordering select meals. The swag included stickers, badges, and codes that can be redeemed in-game to acquire exclusive KFC-themed wing gliders and recipes. Gamers in other regions can get the new recipes by logging in during the upcoming 1.4 update.
Unfortunately, neither MiHoYo or KFC expected the sheer amount of gamers that the collaboration was going to attract [1, 2, 3]. The Genshin Impact subreddit was quickly overwhelmed with dozens of threads showing off huge numbers of gamers and cosplayers [1, 2, and the first and fifth photos here] flocking to the participating KFC locations, forming huge lines in and outside of the restaurants.
Some of the crowds could easily rival lines normally associated with Black Friday or a new game console launch, with fans camping outside the day before the event started and crowding inside of the restaurants. There were also a few reports that some Noelle standees may have been stolen or otherwise given away [sixth image here] and sold online, though these are unconfirmed.
The locations in Shanghai and Hangzhou were quickly closed down, as police responded to the scene to break up the lines. The reason most commonly cited for the lockdown was that the huge number of fans gathering at participating locations violated China’s ongoing social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, though others have speculated it might also be due to Chinese laws that require large gatherings be reported to authorities beforehand.
Chinese players have noted that the event caused many other issues, notably that some people were too embarrassed to say the slogan to get their Genshin Impact-themed bucket and swag. This led to Chinese gamers hiring others to buy the meal for them so they could get the swag, or making up stories that it was for a sibling or child. This was even parodied by fans adapting the advert animation.
Physical merchandise from the event is fetching high prices online, with some of the badges going for upwards of $77. At least one Noelle KFC standee is allegedly being sold online for $7,000 USD. The digital items from the event may soon be available worldwide, though minus the KFC branding (including the glider), and the recipe.
UPDATE: The digital items from the event will be available worldwide with the launch of update 1.4 (and until April 1st), via the Outland Gastronomy daily log-in event. Across 7 days players can earn eight Hero’s Wit, 300 Primogems, 50,000 Moria, a Recipe for Exotic Gourmet, and a Recipe for Golden Fried Chicken.
Genshin Impact is available and free-to-play on Windows PC (via the official website), PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, and coming soon to Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here (we recommend it!)
