List of Genshin Impact characters

Many of Genshin Impact's characters were first introduced in an official manga which was released prior to the game's launch.[1]

When designing the characters, the designers must first decide who the character is at its core and their needs, then they may design the character to fit that original idea and those needs.[2] Designers may also consider the relation of a character to other characters in Teyvat; for example the elegant and reserved opera singer Yun Jin was designed to juxtaposition the fiery and unbound rock star Xinyan.[3]

Many characters are derived from legends of certain nations- the adepti of Liyue, for example, are based on the Xian of Daoism. The idea of the Vision itself also derives from Daoism- the concept of a third eye manifests itself in humans as the form of the Vision they receive.[2]

The characters of Genshin Impact enjoyed positive reception, specifically in terms of revenue (as Genshin Impact is a gacha game, much of its revenue comes from sales of in-game currency that players use to pull for characters). Character's revenues come from limited-time events, colloquially known as 'wishes', where players have a boosted chance to win a character. Across all platforms (including mobile, console and computer platforms), the game is estimated to have grossed nearly $3.7 billion in its first year by September 2021, the highest ever first-year launch revenue for any video game.[23][24][25] The mobile version grossed a further $567 million between January and March 2022,[26] adding up to more than $4.267 billion grossed as of March 2022.

Some characters enjoyed massive popularity, such as the Raiden Shogun, whose first banner earned the highest 2-day revenue at the time in the game, at $9M.[27] Although it is impossible to calculate the full revenue across all platforms where Genshin Impact is available, certain numbers are available. As of March 2021, the character Zhongli was the highest grossing character, with $15.5M reported in revenue at the time.[28]

In November 2020, the game was met with controversy during a character's release, Zhongli, due to his equipment and gameplay being viewed as poor to the point where it was taken as an insult toward Chinese players. miHoYo published a blog post in response noting that the character was working as designed.[29] Later, miHoYo issued an apology, and promised to improve the character's kit, during beta testing for version 1.3.[30]

In April 2021, some called for a boycott of the game over claims of bigotry in the game's content.[31][32] Some other users pointed out how the only playable characters with dark skin were described as "exotic" or "scary" in the game.[32] Criticism was also aimed at one of the game's adult characters expressing love towards another character that appears to be a child, though this may have been an oversight as the character in question was noted to have used an adult model during earlier stages of development.[31][32]

In June 2022, following leaks of early character designs from the area of Sumeru, Genshin Impact was accused of colourism by many of its fans. Sumeru takes inspiration from many North African, West Asian, and South Asian cultures, with a great variety of skin tones ranging from pale to very dark being found among the people of these cultures. However, the characters of Sumeru were designed with predominantly pale or light brown skin. Since Genshin Impact's playable characters are designed for attractiveness and marketability, this could lead to the assumption that the developers of Genshin Impact consider darker skin "uglier" and "not marketable enough".[33][34][35]