Genshin Impact updates 4 character skins to make them less revealing

Genshin Impact is updating the default outfits for Jean, Amber, Rosaria, and Mona to make them less revealing, but the new outfits will be optional for players outside China.

Developer MiHoYo briefly explained the updated skins in a blog post. These alternate outfits will soon be released globally, and they're already live in the Chinese version of Genshin Impact, per the developer's BiliBili post (auto-translated to English). Chinese players will be given 1,200 Primogems as compensation, but since global players will still be able to use the original outfits and are essentially just getting free variant skins, players in other regions won't receive any free Primogems.

MiHoYo's Chinese post also mentions "the performance of the character in a specific perspective in flight," which is a thinly veiled way to say that character models now fade out if you look up a character's skirt while gliding. Global players quickly deduced that this change has only been applied to the Chinese version of the game as well.

Dear Travelers,We will release the Alternate Outfits, which are partial redesigns of the default outfits of "Dandelion Knight" Jean, "Gliding Champion" Amber, "Thorny Benevolence" Rosaria, and "Astral Reflection" Mona. View details here:https://t.co/sxW2Tm9m8l pic.twitter.com/ky6S7sb0scJanuary 4, 2022

Translations of MiHoYo's BiliBili post suggest these changes were made in response to new policies and restrictions set by the Chinese government. In September 2021, South China Morning Post reported on new "red lines" that Chinese game developers will need to follow, and according to reporter Josh Ye, Genshin Impact's anemo archon, Venti, was directly referenced in an official memo as an example of a character that conflicts with these guidelines – in this case, for appearing too feminine. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that the replies to MiHoYo's Chinese post are largely supportive, with many players acknowledging that MiHoYo's hand was forced.

Given China's new restrictions, the specific elements which were changed with these four skins, and the aforementioned reference to Venti, it's possible that more Genshin Impact characters will have their default outfits updated in the future. The newly released character Shenhe, for instance, has a fairly revealing outfit with straight-up hip windows, and it doesn't seem like that kind of fashion will fly. We've reached out to MiHoYo for more information.