Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse and publisher Cognosphere has waged war against prominent leakers in the game for some time now. The game is vulnerable to leaks, being particularly susceptible to datamining and beta test leaks, but HoYoverse is pushing back in an effort to stop the spoilers from spreading. In a report by TorrentFreak, it appears lawyers representing Cognosphere have filed a DMCA subpoena application, essentially suing Discord for the identity of one of the biggest leakers in the scene: Ubatcha.
Ubatcha is one of Genshin Impact’s most prominent and influential leakers, not only occasionally leaking new information themselves, but also vetting leaks from other leakers for their accuracy and redistributing that information on channels such as Reddit and their Twitter account. When they aren’t on Reddit or Twitter, they can be found on the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor Discord server, a server with over 250,000 members.
The filing was directed toward Discord and gets straight to the point: “Petitioner, Cognosphere Pte. Ltd. through its undersigned counsel of record, hereby requests that the Clerk of this Court issue a subpoena to Discord, Inc. to identify alleged infringers,” before later identifying the infringer by name: user Ubatcha#2791. Discord is requested to hand over some of Ubatcha’s personal information, such as name, address, and phone numbers.
Regardless of the result, leaks for Genshin Impact may notably slow down as HoYoverse pumps the gas on tackling many of the leak issues that are present in the game. HoYoverse had already sent a DMCA takedown request to one of the most popular leaking communities in the game, the /r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks subreddit.
While HoYoverse is targeting leakers directly, leakers in the community are like a hydra. Cut off one head, and another will grow in its place. With how prominent leaking is for Genshin Impact, HoYoverse and Cognosphere will have to tackle other core issues in addition to going after leakers if they really want to stop the way current information about the game is distributed.
