A male attendee at the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference smashed his PlayStation 4 on the showroom floor to protest a new video game.
The unidentified man drew the crowd's attention at the 2019 ChinaJoy event in Shanghai when he proceeded to destroy his PS4 Pro. He was said to be upset over Sony's support of an upcoming game titled Genshin Impact, which has been accused of being a clone of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
PS4 Pro Smashing Incident At ChinaJoy
The incident occurred during a Sony press conference where the Japanese gaming and entertainment company announced its support for Genshin Impact on the PS4. Not only was Sony involved in the development of the game, it was also set to publish the port for the console.
However, a man in the audience disagreed with Sony's decision. As a way to protest the announcement, he took out his PS4 Pro from his backpack and obliterated the $250 console in front of everyone in attendance. The act solicited a wide-range of reactions from the crowd, with some looking on in disbelief while others viewing it as somewhat amusing.
The angry fan was just one of many gamers in China who are displeased with the similarities between Genshin Impact and Breath of the Wild. Some fans went to the social media platform Weibo to express their disappointment with Sony and Chinese game developer MiHoYo.
Is 'Genshin Impact' A 'Breath Of The Wild' Clone?
As pointed out by news website CCN, Genshin Impact may have copied a few elements from Breath of the Wild, but it shouldn't necessarily be taken as a bad thing.
The Nintendo Switch exclusive is considered as one of the best video games ever developed. If MiHoYo's creation is close to having as good a gameplay and overall quality as the Zelda title, then it should only serve to benefit gamers.
While it's true that Genshin Impact's characters and world design remind gamers of those seen in Breath of the Wild, the game also draws inspiration from manga and anime artwork. The gameplay in MiHoYo's title also seem to be faster and more action-packed based on the official PlayStation trailer.
However, gamers won't be able to tell for certain whether Genshin Impact is really guilty of IP plagiarism or not until they see the game in its entirety. The open-world RPG is set to hit the PlayStation market in 2020.
