It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon in the Genshin Impact community’s Discord server, the kind where most players were grinding for Arlecchino’s ascension materials or debating whether the upcoming 6.7 livestream would finally drop a Snezhnaya teaser. Then, a mod dropped a Reddit link from user astrelya, and the chat blew up faster than a Pyro slime’s elemental burst. The leak, sourced from trusted insiders DK2 and HXG, wasn’t just about a new character or a boss fight—it was a bombshell that threatened to upend a decade of HoYoverse’s game design rules.
First, let’s set the scene: Genshin Impact is currently in that weird lull before its final Teyvat nation, Snezhnaya, launches in Version 7.0. Content has slowed a little, with players replaying old domains and speculating about a rumored elemental nerf for 6.7, but the real hype has been around the Cryo Archon and the Fatui Harbingers who’ll join the playable roster. Amid all that, the leak’s first big reveal was specific: HoYoverse has no plans for an SP version of Childe. For the uninitiated, SP characters are secondary variants of existing playable units—think a new outfit, a fresh set of skills, and a whole new role in team comps. They’re a staple of HoYoverse’s other games, from Honkai Impact 3rd to Honkai: Star Rail, where they keep old fan favorites feeling fresh without retiring them.
But the leak didn’t stop at Childe. It went further: HoYoverse isn’t planning any SP characters for Genshin Impact at all, not now, not in the near future. That’s a huge deal. For nearly six years, Genshin has stuck to a formula: release new characters, tie them to the main story, and give existing ones skins (cosmetic only, no skill changes) every so often. No variants, no reworks that turn a 5-star into a whole new unit. Compare that to Honkai: Star Rail, which just dropped Mortenax Blade—an SP version of the fan-favorite Blade—earlier this month. Mortenax Blade has a sleek new design and abilities that let him fit into entirely different team setups, a move that kept players engaged and spending on banners.
The community was split, of course. On one side, players who’d been begging for a Raiden Shogun SP—maybe a version that uses Electro and Hydro, or one that’s a support instead of a damage dealer—were devastated. “C’mon, HoYoverse, give us something to pull for besides new characters!” one Reddit comment read. On the other side, long-time fans argued that Genshin’s story is too tightly woven to fit SP variants. “Imagine if Childe got an SP version that’s a hero instead of a villain—would that mess up the Snezhnaya arc?” a Discord user asked. It’s a fair point: HoYoverse has spent years building Teyvat’s lore, and an SP character could break the narrative consistency that makes the game so beloved.
This shift also feels like a commercial strategy. Genshin’s banner cycle is already a well-oiled machine: every update brings two new 5-stars, each with a unique story and role, and players save Primogems for months to pull for them. Adding SP variants would mean competing with those new characters for players’ resources, and HoYoverse might be worried that would slow down sales of the main story units. But let’s be real—if a Raiden Shogun SP dropped tomorrow, half the player base would empty their wallets for it. “I don’t care if it breaks the lore, I’m pulling,” one player joked in a Twitch chat.
Of course, no leak is 100% reliable, even from trusted sources. HoYoverse has been known to change plans at the last minute, especially as the game heads into its final Teyvat arc. After Snezhnaya, players will likely visit Khaenri’ah and Celestia—two huge, lore-heavy regions that could easily justify SP variants. Imagine a Khaenri’ah version of Venti, or a Celestia-aligned Zhongli—those would fit perfectly into the story, and HoYoverse could easily reverse course. For now, though, the leak has left the community in a weird limbo: excited for Snezhnaya, but a little sad that their favorite characters might never get a fresh new look and set of skills.
As the 6.7 livestream approaches, players are refreshing their feeds every five minutes, hoping for a hint—any hint—about SP characters. Will HoYoverse confirm the leak? Will they tease a variant that no one saw coming? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure: the Genshin Impact community isn’t going to stop speculating anytime soon.