Yu-Peng Chen, popular composer of Genshin Impact, leaves HoYoverse

Genshin Impact’s soundtrack is huge, with a shocking number of tunes that span across the game’s current five regions. Battle themes, town themes, and even character themes, every Genshin Impact player probably has a favorite track of theirs they can hum on command. Many of these iconic themes were composed by Yu-Peng Chen, a composer for Genshin Impact, who unfortunately announced plans to leave HoYoverse and pursue other endeavors.

More accurately, Chen has left HoYo-MiX, a music studio from HoYoverse that works on original music for the company’s many games, including Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai: Star Rail, and Tears of Themis. The studio is comprised of numerous composers, including Qian Ding, Jiade He, Yijun Jiang, Simai Wang, Dimeng Yuan, and Xin Zhao. Chen announced his departure from HoYo-MiX on Weibo earlier today, stating he will continue on with Genshin Impact as a player instead.

A sad tune

Image by HoYoverse

Chen posted a lengthy statement on Weibo, translated by Reddit user /u/Wonderful-Lab7375: “Sorry to disturb everyone! According to my own creative schedule, and after some careful consideration, alongside multiple discussions with the company (miHoYo), I have decided to leave miHoYo and the HoYo-MiX team to continue my pursuit of my musical dreams! To see my fellow colleagues at HoYo-MiX continued growth, and seeing Genshin Impact’s music come all this way (Fontaine’s music is really amazing ?), I can’t help but think about all the help I received from my colleagues and the company during music production… it is truly a beautiful and unforgettable experience!”

Fortunately, HoYo-MiX still retains many of its other talented composers and producers. Reportedly, Chen did not work on music for Fontaine, Genshin Impact’s newest region, and I haven’t personally noticed a drop in quality from the game’s music (which makes sense, obviously.) Check out his full translated statement on Reddit here.