The incident also sparked reactions from Genshin Impact fans who were dealing with alleged 'colourism' issues in their own game.
Riot Games, the developer behind popular titles such as League of Legends (LoL) and TeamFight Tactics (TFT), recently found itself in hot water due to allegations of 'colourism' in depictions of the game's characters who are considered ‘people of color’ (POC). This controversy emerged following the release of the new splash art for Set 12 of TeamFight Tactics.
The artwork in question featured Milio, a character from League of Legends, in his Faerie Court skin for the popular auto battler.
Fans quickly noticed that Milio's skin tone appeared significantly lighter than it should have been, prompting accusations of whitewashing from the community. The backlash was swift and widespread, with many players taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their disappointment and frustration.
"There’s some weird inconsistencies AND you whitewashed Milio," X (formerly known as Twitter) user NyxHesperia pointed out, echoing the sentiments of many others who felt the change was unnecessary and problematic.
Milio, a dark-skinned Support champion in LoL and TFT, came from Ixtal, a region in Runeterra inspired by Latin American culture.
Whitewashed Milio was “outdated artwork”
In response to the uproar, Riot quickly acknowledged the mistake and clarified that the splash art was outdated.
“Milio's splash in his reveal post came with an outdated render,” the TFT devs explained. “A big thanks to the Fuemigos for noting/calling this out.”
The swift and transparent response from Riot Games was met with praise from the LoL and TFT communities, with many considering it a win for the developers.
“Very happy that this change is being made!! Thank you @TFT for listening to the fuemigos,” X (formerly known as Twitter) user Nate said as a reply to the updated artwork posted.
Others like PepperJaxx, Aroush and more, also thanked the devs for listening to the community, and reminding them to be more careful in the future.
Genshin Impact community reacts: "It could be this easy."
However, the incident also sparked reactions from other gaming communities, particularly fans of Genshin Impact.
Some like X user Phantom, replied to TFT’s X post, comparing the Genshin devs to Riot. “on a scale of game companies not whitewashing their characters: Riot 1 - Genshin -9000,” they said.
Many others like X user doc_infamous tagged the social media accounts accounts of HoYoverse and Genshin Impact, telling them that “It could be this easy.”
HoYoverse, the developers of popular Adventure RPG Genshin Impact, have recently been embroiled in their own colourism controversy, after previewing new characters from the Natlan region, inspired by Indigenous cultures of Latin America, Africa, and Aboriginal Australians.
Many in the player community, including voice actors, accused HoYoverse of failing to accurately represent these cultures, and a petition against the alleged colourism garnered more than 50,000 signatures.
