In recent months, it seems like Genshin Impact players have started to quit (or threaten to quit) the game entirely. It's something that has followed the free-to-play RPG since its initial launch last year, but it certainly seems like fans have been more vocal about leaving Genshin Impact lately. There's no single reason for this exodus, but rather a number of reasons why Genshin Impact players are quitting the game.

Despite all the people who appear to be leaving the game behind, the player count for Genshin Impact just keeps rising. Although a few lulls in content - especially before Version 2.0 dropped - caused a small dip in people playing, these mostly appear to be caused by lack of interest rather than any controversies surrounding the game. Even now, player counts are rising although they're slightly lower than when the Inazuma content first arrived in the summer - which is understandable, given how such large updates entice players to return and newcomers to try it out.

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Even with the number of controversies surrounding miHoYo's game lately, many people are still playing Genshin Impact. Toward the end of the summer, miHoYo even had to open a second official Discord server for the game because the first one was full due to its popularity. Still, some people are quitting Genshin Impact (and sometimes for good). Here are the biggest reasons people are leaving the game right now.

Genshin Impact Players Are Quitting Over Gacha Fatigue

Genshin Impact Aether Cosplayer Earns Back Gacha Money

For all its quality content (especially for a free-to-play game), Genshin Impact is still a gacha game at its core. Getting new characters and weapons depends largely on RNG, and to offset low pull rates in Genshin Impact, purchasing currency with real-world money is an option. With many of the best characters being locked behind gacha mechanics, it's a necessary part of playing the game. Understandably, fatigue can start to set in for these gacha mechanics. This is true for all players, but especially for those who've invested both time and money into pulling characters and weapons.

Thankfully, Genshin Impact has a pity system to alleviate some of these problems. This guarantees that players will get a 5-star character or 5-star weapon eventually. Unfortunately, this means many unsuccessful attempts will have to be made before pity kicks in. It's a nice feature, but it's also a somewhat small consolation prize for players who are quitting Genshin Impact because of RNG and gacha fatigue.

Genshin Impact Players Are Leaving After The Leaker Crackdown

Genshin Impact Leakers Hunt Decree Explained

As a more recent development, miHoYo has started a crackdown on Genshin Impact leakers. After at least one lawsuit, many prominent leakers in the community feared they would be next, leading them to deactivate their social media accounts (at least, temporarily). For many players, excitement over Genshin Impact stems from leaks surfacing online and from closed beta tests. miHoYo's crackdown on leakers was seen as an attack against its fan community and received a lot of backlash.

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Fans started referring to this as Genshin Impact's "Leaker Hunt Decree," a reference to the Raiden Shogun's Vision Hunt Decree in the 2.0 Inazuma content, in which she takes away her citizens' Visions for personal gain. Because of miHoYo's leaker crackdown, players threatened to quit Genshin Impact entirely. And while a few leakers have resurfaced since then, the goodwill between miHoYo and its fans has been damaged.

Genshin Impact Players Are Quitting The Game Over Poor Anniversary Rewards

Genshin 1-Year Anniversary Poster

Another fairly recent development is the way miYoHo handled Genshin Impact's 1st Anniversary rewards, which people felt were largely underwhelming. After fans asked miHoYo for more, the developer eventually changed its Anniversary rewards to include a free Glider bundle, but many fans felt that after a year of loyalty (and even spending real money), even these new 1-Year Anniversary rewards for Genshin Impact didn't go far enough. Coupled with the crackdown on leakers, this only added to the backlash and made even more players threaten to quit the game.

Admittedly, it wasn't just about the lackluster rewards. Many players saw the First Anniversary rewards as being indicative of a larger problem - that miHoYo wasn't listening to its fans and disregarding them. Fans felt slighted, and it led to some players quitting Genshin Impact for good.

Genshin Impact Players Are Getting Overwhelmed With Content

Genshin Impact 1-4 Adventure Rank World Level

Updates are almost always coming to Genshin Impact since miHoYo releases a new version every six weeks that typically includes new characters, new events, and even new locations to explore. The constant flow of content has been great for player retention, but as the game expands beyond its first year, some players have felt overwhelmed by the amount of new stuff - and the grind required for reaching the newest content.

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As each new update arrives, the Adventure Rank in Genshin Impact that's necessary to unlock new content steadily rises. Even for limited-time events, the Adventure Rank has increased over time, which is a big problem for returning players or newcomers. People don't want to grind up dozens of Adventure Ranks to see the newest content, and upon growing frustrated, many of them are leaving. For others, grinding up Adventure Ranks in what passes for Genshin Impact's endgame can get tedious, and with the goal line always being pushed back because of new updates, it can be arduous trying to stay caught up.

How Genshin Impact Can Keep Players From Quitting The Game

Genshin Impact Player Count 2021

Despite all of its problems, the backlash and changes around Genshin Impact's 1-Year Anniversary rewards show that miHoYo is willing to listen to its fans and adapt when necessary. It's a small step in the right direction, but larger steps will need to be taken in order to restore all of its goodwill. This means listening more to player feedback, perhaps tweaking its RNG and free rewards, and letting the fans know that they matter.

With Genshin Impact 2.3 releasing soon, and larger updates coming out in the future, only time will tell if miHoYo can salvage its relationship with fans. Thus far, the amount of people leaving the game has been offset by new players trying it out. However, that may plateau - or even decrease - soon if enough Genshin Impact players quit the game.

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