As the McDonald's Pokemon tie-ins draw to a close in North America, another popular game, Genshin Impact, started a KFC promotional tie-in in China. Much like the swarms of Pokemon fans that engulfed McDonald's locations when the Happy Meal Pokemon cards were announced on this side of the Pacific, Genshin Impact fans have formed enormous lines at KFC locations across China where they hope to get their hands on playable character pins.
Genshin Impact is an open-world RPG game developed by Chinese studio miHoYo and released in September of last year. The game was an instant success in its home country, but was also a runaway success in the rest of the world. In fact, it has been reported that Genshin Impact had the biggest global launch of any Chinese-produced video game ever.
The Genshin Impact KFC promotion is offering fans in China the chance to get unique pins of Diluc and Noelle, two characters in the game, that also unlock in-game content like special recipes and a red and white glider suit. According to Twitter user and industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, in order to obtain the pins, customers have to say, "Meet in another world, enjoy delicious food," as they are ordering their meal. Several videos of customers excitedly exclaiming the line to KFC employees have now hit Twitter, adding to the already long list of Genshin Impact memes on the internet.
Unfortunately, it seems the cross-over event was too successful for its own good and was eventually shut down in several locations in order to maintain China's covid-19 related protocols. It is uncertain when the promotion will return to these locations, but considering Genshin Impact is still going strong after version 1.4 was rolled out, and considering developer miHoYo plans to bring the in-game items to the rest of the world at some point in the future, it is likely China's KFCs that have stopped the event haven't seen the last of Genshin Impact, either.
Of course, just because the rest of the world is waiting on in-game items related to the Chinese KFC crossover doesn't mean there haven't been any Genshin Impact events anywhere else. Several days ago it was announced that Genshin Impact's Slime Paradise event would be coming to PS4, and leaks have suggested that some new characters will probably be added to the game when version 1.5 is released.
While the in-game items are expected to arrive in the rest of the world at some point, it seems the pins themselves will remain a Chinese exclusive. Collectors will probably be able to pay a small fortune for the pins on eBay at some point down the line, though, in the meantime, there are plenty of free promos running in Genshin Impact to keep the rest of the fan base content.
Genshin Impact is available now for the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.
Sources: Kotaku