Genshin Impact is one of this generation’s biggest free-to-play RPGs since its public release in 2020. Of course, being an open-world RPG does have its caveats and it’s not just involving the development part of things.

During the Genshin Impact Fes 2023 in Shanghai, China, HoYoverse president Liu “Dawei” Wei shares his thoughts about the game’s development process, going so far as to address the game’s alleged copying of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild mechanics (via Twitter’s @tokinohikaru_00).

-The game started going into development in 2017.
-Regarding the game’s early development, HoYoverse (then MiHoyo) was a small team filled with young but inexperienced developers at the time. The team had no engine to work Genshin on, but they were full of courage and passion.

[for every traveller]Genshin Impact FES 2023 in Shanghai (English Version)
MiHoYo president Daiwei is deeply moved and talks about his thoughts on Genshin Impact
I feel like crying while watching ?

?There were difficult times, but he says that he was able to come this far… pic.twitter.com/4H2YLWSaIp

— ?????? (@tokinohikaru_00) August 13, 2023

-After finishing the town of Mondstadt in the game’s early build in 2019, the team was rejuvenated and got back on track. The team even managed to release a closed beta of the game.
-Feedback and response for the closed beta were not positive; the game was accused of being an anime ripoff of Nintendo Switch’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. Dawei didn’t mention Breath of the Wild by name, but he alluded that it was a popular criticism.

When Mihoyo unveiled Genshin Impact for PS4, many noted the game was inspired by BOTW.

Some fans of BOTW are upset that Sony is promoting this game because of the similarities + they think it’s shameless of Sony.

This man smashed his PS4 at ChinaJoy in protest. pic.twitter.com/jwJqwREgaz

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 3, 2019

-Following this protest from the Chinese gaming crowd, Dawei’s team was crying and wondering what they did wrong. Dawei urged his team to prove themselves and make the part of Genshin that everyone didn’t see; hence, the team created the continent of Liyue to give players a better understanding of what the team was trying to achieve.

Genshin Impact is available right now for PC, mobile devices, and PlayStation consoles. The 4.0 update featuring the new continent of Fontaine will be out on 16 August; that’s this Wednesday.