Genshin Impact publisher Cognosphere sent its lawyers after one of the game's most prolific leakers last week and even subpoenaed Discord in the process, and the community is rapidly going into lockdown in response.
Ubatcha, a leaker with over 460,000 Twitter followers and a reputation for early and reliable pre-release information, was the subject of the subpoena, which requested the details of the person behind the account from Discord. Since it was filed, Ubatcha has deleted all of their tweets and totally vanished from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor (WFP) Discord server, a go-to place for Genshin leaks. This is the same server Cognosphere cited in a DMCA notice featuring screenshots of Ubatcha's posts.
The WFP Twitter is still active at the time of writing, but the Discord server has shuttered its leak-related channels. Many other Genshin Impact leakers have also gone dark, or outright deleted their accounts, in response to the so-called "leaker hunt decree" launched by Hoyoverse. The term is an amusing play on the Vision hunt decree described in Genshin's Inazuma storyline, and it's not the first time we've seen it used, but after the recent and highly visible legal action from developer Hoyoverse, it's made a heck of a comeback.
"We are not in any legal trouble or facing any threats ourselves," said Save Your Primos, a prominent leaker with over 350,000 Twitter followers, as they locked down their Twitter account. "This is a precaution in light of recent events."
Though it received DMCA notices in the aftermath of a massive data breach allegedly covering the next nine months of Genshin Impact updates, the Genshin Impact Leaks subreddit seems to be weathering the storm unphased for now.
The chilling effect of the subpoena is clear, and given the radio silence in the community, it seems it may have slowed leaks on the next Genshin Impact update. Curiously, Hoyoverse hasn't shared any teaser art for new characters coming in update 3.4, either. However, the developer put out a call for beta participants as it normally does through the game's official Discord – just days before the subpoena was filed, at that. I've reached out to Hoyverse for more information on the situation and will update if I hear back.
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