When a miHoYo employee publicly livestreams a competitor's game — in the Genshin Impact category, no less — the irony practically writes itself. Recently, a miHoYo marketing department employee known as '草莓小哥' (Strawberry Bro) was exposed by eagle-eyed netizens for livestreaming Wuthering Waves (鸣潮), a direct rival to miHoYo's own Genshin Impact. The kicker? His stream was listed under the 'Genshin Impact' category.
The original poster claimed that Strawberry Bro regularly livestreams different games every weekend, including hot new mobile titles as well as miHoYo's own products like Honkai Impact, Genshin Impact, and Honkai: Star Rail. But the timing of his Wuthering Waves stream was notably suspicious — it happened right as the competitor game was generating massive buzz at launch. One commenter sarcastically quipped: 'How strange that a miHoYo employee suddenly pops up to play Wuthering Waves right after it blew up' — implying this wasn't just a casual personal choice.
The comment section quickly split into two warring factions. The critics zeroed in on the core hypocrisy: miHoYo's content creators (such as the previously controversial '月飞' Moonfly) face restrictions on their commercial partnerships — or even get booted from the Star Rail creator server — if they openly promote rival games. One user fired directly: 'We're all eating miHoYo's rice, so why do some people have to follow commercial ethics while others can stream whatever they want? Is the only difference a company ID badge?' Another pressed further: 'So does he lose access to the Star Rail creator server too?' — highlighting the perceived double standard between contractors and employees.
The defenders, meanwhile, thought the whole thing was a nothingburger. 'So what? Since when do game company employees get banned from playing other companies' games?' one user shot back. Others reframed it as a sign of dedication: 'A regular employee doing unpaid overtime, experiencing competitor gameplay for research — he deserves a raise, honestly.' The optimists chimed in with: 'Working on weekends voluntarily to study the competition? This man should be promoted immediately.'
Some users offered a more strategic reading: 'You don't get it — this is called studying the enemy. When they hit a rough patch, you can laugh even harder.' Others tried to distinguish between roles: 'Marketing departments need to do competitive research. Playing other games is completely normal — it's not like he's a sponsored content creator.' This attempted to draw a line between content creators bound by commercial agreements and internal staff conducting market analysis.
Of course, NGA veterans never miss a chance to go off-topic. Someone couldn't resist lobbing a grenade: 'Isn't the marketing department basically the "basic girl" department?' — unrelated to the incident but revealing deep-seated stereotypes about miHoYo's internal culture. The contrarians took the opposite extreme: 'miHoYo has thousands of employees — do we really need to analyze every fart and bathroom break on the forum?'
As of now, miHoYo has issued no official response, and Strawberry Bro himself hasn't publicly addressed the controversy. At its core, this debate about whether game company employees can freely play competitors' products reflects a deeper question about the blurred boundaries of commercial ethics in the gaming industry — when fan-culture-style tribalism collides with perfectly normal market competition, who's really the one with 'low resistance' (容易破防) to criticism?
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