According to Sina, one of China’s largest news portals, a man was recently arrested at Mihoyo’s Shanghai headquarters. It is believed the suspect intended to stab the company’s founders and then take his own life.
The man had purchased two knives and had researched Mihoyo’s founders online. He was arrested on the company grounds, and fortunately no one was hurt.
Mihoyo, best known for Genshin Impact, has been criticized lately for an anniversary update for its game Honkai Impact 3rd that features the characters in bunny suits, as can be seen in the top screenshot. Some fans called the outfits disrespectful, and the bunny outfit content was canceled. The game’s Twitter account released an official apology for the designs, saying they “were out of character and inappropriate.”
There is unconfirmed speculation that this sparked the reported attempted attack.
Chinese media have been attempting to get confirmation from Mihoyo regarding what happened. For example, on NetEase, there was an effort to reach out to the studio. Hongxing News, however, contacted the Shanghai station near Mihoyo’s headquarters, but was told that the incident has yet to be publicly disclosed and that a police report would be released at a later date.