"Genshin Impact," a free-to-play RPG by Chinese developer miHoYo, seems to be a favorite of many. A week after its release, players are discovering its subtleties, including the puzzling nature of microtransactions and, more recently, what they are and are not allowed to type in in-game chat.

First noted on Twitter and Reddit and corroborated by us, there are words that cannot be used in Genshin Impact chat. The words 'Taiwan' and 'Hong Kong' are censored, as are 'Putin', 'Hitler', 'Stalin', and 'Falun Gong'; the word 'words' is also banned for some reason, suggesting that the chat filter uses a large list, with one or two mistakes in it.

As Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad points out on Twitter, it is quite natural that discussions about Taiwan and Hong Kong are suppressed by the chat filter, since these are Chinese games. Linking to a $4,000 report by Niko Partners designed to help game publishers launch in China, Ahmad notes that "games developed in China have to comply with a large amount of content and in-game censorship rules. He also noted that a list of banned words exists.

An excerpt from that report, posted by Ahmad, outlines that "anything that threatens China's national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity" is prohibited. This, of course, includes references to Taiwan and Hong Kong independence, which are not recognized by mainland China. While China may not prohibit the use of these proper nouns, it may be expedient for developers to eliminate their use altogether.

Although developer MiHoYo faced deserved criticism for changing its kernel-based anti-cheat system, Genshin Impact's in-game censorship is hardly a "choice" on the part of the studio, and is absolutely necessary to avoid the wrath of Chinese regulators.

In other words, it is a bit different from Western publishers and developers bowing to Chinese laws in order to make big bucks in China.