KFC and Genshin Impact joined forces for a crossover event to reward hungry fans with exclusive rewards. Unfortunately, the finger-lickin' good promotion in China attracted so many excited fans that it was forced to shut down over COVID-19 protocol violations.
As reported by Kotaku, Kentucky Fried Chicken in China was holding a special promotion with Genshin Impact to award special pins to customers who yelled out to employees when purchasing food.
In both the Shanhai and Hangzhou locations, the promotion had to be canceled soon after it began because of COVID-19 protocol violations. Due to the game’s huge fanbase and our collective desire to get exclusive merchandise, it’s easy to see how it could have gotten out of hand. Despite China’s relative return to normalcy--even at the virus’ starting point in Wuhan--the country is taking no chances.
Genshin Impact is one of the most successful games to ever come from mainland China. Studio miHoYo released the game as a free-to-play title on PC, PS4, and mobile, with PS5 and Switch versions on the way. It has received a steady stream of post-launch content and its gacha-style system for getting new characters has made it hugely profitable.
It isn’t the only impressive RPG coming out of China, either, as the action-heavy Black Myth: Wukong is also in development from studio Game Science. Based on Journey to the West--the same classic Chinese novel that served as the loose inspiration for Dragon Ball--its intense combat looks to be on par with what we’ve seen from studios like From Software and Team Ninja.