Genshin Effect It is one of the biggest, most successful video games in the world, earning developer/publisher miHoYo tens of millions of dollars a month. However, according to some voice actors involved in the popular game, they can’t get a salary for months, which causes some to fall behind on rent.
Launched in 2020, Genshin Effect is a free-to-play, gacha-driven, online anime-themed action-RPG with an extensive roster of characters working together to defeat enemies using elemental magic attacks. The game was a huge hit from the moment it first went live and has created a huge community of players around the world. However, despite all the money and success the game has brought to developer miHoYo, the two voice actors working on the game have publicly shared their frustration with their paychecks on Twitter.
On July 12, two voice actors who voice the characters, Corina Boettger and Brandon Winckler Genshin Effect, They tweeted how disappointed they were and claimed that the money owed to them had not yet been paid months later. Boettger voices the popular NPC Paimon and Winckler voices various minor characters in the RPG.
Winckler revealed that he sent five emails to miHoYo. He wants the company to pay him, but has yet to receive any response. He said it was “inexcusable” that he had to wait more than four months for his paycheck, while estimating that the publisher was making more than $85 million a month. Between 2020 and 2021, Genshin Effect reportedly earned a total of $3.7 billion.
“It’s really hard to justify working on something for the sake of business if you don’t have the money for food,” Winckler tweeted. “Many non-union productions have this problem, I’ve waited anywhere from four to eight months for payment, and even then I’m not asking for much. It’s $1,000 here, $500 there, and it’s growing fast.”
Winckler added that although he likes to work on video games, he will not work on them. Genshin Effect now says the game should be a “union build” with a union contract and guards.
actor friend Corina Boettger also tweeted about her disappointments out of pay, saying they worked for “months” for “months” on a “big project”. Boettger claims they owe thousands of dollars and are currently struggling to pay rent due to delayed payments. Although Boettger does not directly say Genshin Effect In tweets, follow-up responses make it clear which project the actor is talking about in his public statements.
“This project has made BILLIONS,” Boettger said. “This project should be Unity. This wouldn’t have happened if the game was union. Tell them to SAG the game.”
Boettger also added that while they aren’t sure if the developers, publishers or anyone else is responsible for the payment issues, they believe none of this would have happened if the game had been unified.
kotaku contacted miHoYo, Boettger, and Winckler for comment, but did not hear back before it was published.
Unions in the video game industry are not as common as in other industries such as film or manufacturing, but this has started to change in recent years. First, QA testers Call of Duty studio Raven Software syndicatedthen test users BioWare, snowstormAnd bethesda. Developers at Proletariat Studio tried to unionize before everyone in the studio was out of management but ultimately failed. And on Monday Sega, America’s office in Irvine, California, successfully voted to unionize.
outside of Microsoftno video game publisher has voluntarily recognized any of these syndicates, and Activision reportedly trying to crack down on unions in its broad organization.
