Onmyoji's Official Weibo Accuses Honor of Kings of Copying — Their Own Players Side With the Enemy: "I'll Open the Gates for Honor of Kings Myself"

When the official account of a gacha game publicly accuses a rival of plagiarism, you'd expect their playerbase to rally behind them in righteous fury. Instead, what followed was one of the most spectacular self-owns in Chinese gaming community history. The Onmyoji (阴阳师) official Weibo account recently called out Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) for allegedly copying their character design on a new hero, posting side-by-side comparison screenshots as evidence.

But instead of a united front, the NGA forums erupted in collective mockery of their own game's devs. The character in question was identified as Jiaotu (椒图) — though some initially confused it with another character, Bang Jing (蚌精). Here's where it gets juicy: players pointed out that this character's design itself had a shady copyright history. One commenter noted the original design was allegedly copied years ago and was supposed to be redesigned but never was. Another added that the studio eventually just bought the rights to it. So Onmyoji is essentially accusing others of plagiarism with a design they had to purchase the copyright for — the irony writes itself.

The comment section became a legendary roast session. One top-voted reply fired directly at the dev team (referred to as 'zen' by the community): "zen is such a clown — why learn from the worst examples and start public beef?" This was a reference to another NetEase game's controversial marketing tactics. Then came the comment that went viral — a masterfully sarcastic copypasta: "You dared to mess with Onmyoji? Congratulations, you've kicked cotton. Onmyoji will respond with... absolutely nothing. You'll just be told to keep waiting." This perfectly captured the community's frustration with the devs' pattern of big talk, zero follow-through.

Other players went full surrender mode: "I'm defecting — the moment Honor of Kings players come knocking, I'm handing over all the zen team's dirt." Another declared: "Honor of Kings, storm the gates — I'll open them for you." The term '农友' (literally 'farming friends') is the self-deprecating nickname Honor of Kings players use for themselves. When your own community is volunteering to be double agents for the enemy, you know the PR stunt has catastrophically backfired.

Some players took a more measured approach but were equally scathing: "How does NetEase feel about their Sima Yi versus Honor of Kings' Yedao Shen? And if you're going to accuse someone of copying, at least make a solid case — you can't just point at a similar hairstyle and call it plagiarism. By that logic, I could accuse any character of copying another." Others simply said, "I genuinely don't see the resemblance — how is this even copying?"

But the most devastating blow came from a veteran player: "zen should be thanking Honor of Kings for actually giving the character Huang a proper CG. A studio that treats its own characters as mere BL fanbait to milk their audience has zero moral high ground to lecture anyone about respecting character designs. Players see this publicity stunt for what it is — a joke." Another commenter summarized the situation bluntly: "The Onmyoji official account used to be reasonable, but as revenue tanked, they've devolved into the same desperate clout-chasing as the rest of NetEase."

As of now, this attempted callout has spectacularly backfired, becoming fresh meme material for the community instead. The players' verdict is clear: if you really think someone copied your work, take them to court — don't weaponize your fanbase on social media. Fix your own game first before policing others.