Genshin Impact Developer miHoYo Is Cool With Fans Selling Home-Made Merch...Provided You Follow The Rules

In what feels like a pretty rare move when it comes to video game IPs, miHoYo is making an effort to support the creative fans in its community when it comes to creating and selling fan-made merch. The company dropped a post on the Hoyolab forums today, explaining that they hope to provide "a pleasant and supportive environment" for creative fans while protecting the rights of creators. The result is the "Genshin Impact Overseas Fan-Made Merchandising Guide (Excluding Mainland China)".

According to this guide, fans are free to create "original secondary content" based on Genshin Impact to not only give away, but also sell. There are, however, rules that creators have to follow. These include not violating relevant laws or infringing on the rights of third parties, the Genshin devs, or miHoYo itself. The creations also can't be anything that might harm Genshin Impact or miHoYo's reputation. In addition, don't try to trademark or copyright the creations.

On the actual selling of creations, miHoYo has set what seem to be some pretty reasonable limits. If someone creates a work and will only be selling 200 (or less) of it, they don't have to do anything. However, if the creator is planning on offering more than 200 copies of a creation, they'll need to declare their intent with miHoYo ahead of time by filling out an application found in the same post on their forums. An exception to this would be fan-made figures, such as Nendroids or capsule toys. These require authorization no matter the quantity.

It's also important to note that while miHoYo is allowing both community groups and individuals to sell fan-made merch, this doesn't include doing it under the name of a company, studio, or "other legal entity".

Other rules include some pretty obvious things. Don't retouch or partially modify official art. Don't try to pass your work off as official Genshin Impact art. (In fact, they want' "fan-made merchandise" to be in a visible spot on the product page.) And, of course, don't try to counterfeit already existing Genshin Impact merch.

As noted, it all sounds pretty reasonable -- and is definitely better than what occurs with some other companies. So, if you're an artist doing Genshin Impact art, you'll want to hit up the forums and go over the rules to make sure you're on the up-and-up.