Criticizing
a video game is perfectly legal. Doing so with insulting language and criteria
that a court found unreasonable comes at a different cost. HoYoverse has
just obtained the final ruling in a defamation trial against the Chinese
content creator known as Fanshu Jianshangjia: the court of second
instance fully upheld the original decision, and the creator will have to
pay 500,000 yuan in financial compensation in addition to
publishing public apologies on all the platforms where he operates.
What the
creator did and how the case ended
According
to HoYoverse's legal department, between April 2024 and February 2025 the
creator posted multiple videos from various accounts on Douyin, Bilibili, Kuaishou,
and Xiaohongshu, using the names Fanshu Jianshangjia, Fanshu
Jianshangjia 3, Li Fan Collector, and Li Fan Appraiser. In those videos, he
used insulting and extreme language to refer to HoYoverse and its games
Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero,
evaluating them against standards that the court found unreasonable and making
improper comparisons and valuations.
The court
took into account the market reputation of HoYoverse and its titles, the extent
of the infringement, the degree of responsibility of the creator, and the
purpose, form, and consequences of its actions. The ruling accepted each of the
petitions filed by the company. At the time of reporting the case, the creator
had 1.19 million followers on Douyin, 160,000 on Bilibili and
228,000 on Kuaishou, which gives a dimension of the reach that the questioned
videos had.
The public
apology was already published by the creator on the night of June 3, 2026,
before the official announcement of the ruling by HoYoverse. The company noted
that this is the second final ruling of its kind that it has obtained
in the last month and warned that it will continue to take legal
action against any conduct that involves insults, defamation, violation of
players' rights or damage to the reputation of its games and the company.
About
HoYoverse
HoYoverse is the Chinese developer and
publisher responsible for some of the most popular mobile and PC games of
recent years. Its catalog includes Genshin Impact, which since its
launch in 2020 became a global phenomenon; Honkai Star Rail, a
sci-fi turn-based RPG that arrived in 2023; and Zenless Zone Zero,
its most recent entry into the urban action market. All three titles have
spawned massive communities outside of China, and the company has shown in
recent years an active stance in legally protecting its image from content it
deems defamatory.
