Genshin Impact Replaces Kinich's John Patneaude With Jacob Takanashi

Genshin Impact released its 5.5 Version Update earlier today and revealed that Kinich's voice actor John Patneaude has been replaced with Jacob Takanashi. The change currently only applies to new voiced content but the patch notes (where this info was released) state that the old content will be updated gradually.

The official reason has not been revealed but fans were immidiately speculating that the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike was the cause. An hour ago, Patneaude confirmed on his official Twitter/X account that the reason for the recasting was the fact that he has been withholding his voice-over services due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike:

Kinich has been mainly unvoiced in recent Genshin Impact content. Even his promotional videos were uploaded in Japanese on the official Genshin Impact channels:

Jacob Takanashi shared on his Twitter/X that he is joining the cast of Genshin Impact shortly after the update launched in which he thanks Patneaude. His post was not that well-received, with industry veteran Stephanie Sheh criticizing the choice to take over the role of Kinich.

Zenless Zone Zero, another gacha game by HoYoverse (also known as COGNOSPHERE, same publisher as Genshin Impact), recently replaced two of its voice actors due to their refusal to record lines. SAG-AFTRA members have been on strike since this summer to ensure fundamental A.I. guardrails that would protect their voices and careers.

Genshin Impact used Formosa Interactive studio for English-dubbing since its launch but this is not the first time they have had problems. Paimon's voice actor Corina Boettger, previously shared that Formosa did not pay them for over six months, after which they were moved to work under a different studio.

Formosa found itself in hot water last September after they tried to circumvent the strike by canceling an unnamed project and later trying to move it to a shell company that would hire non-union talent, leading to criticisms.

Genshin players who chose English audio have been struggling with non-voiced or partially-voiced content since the release of Version 5.0, which introduced Natlan. Paimon has been one of the only characters that has been consistently fully voiced. Alejandro Saab (also known as CuYu) shared in a stream last year that Formosa is no longer "recording Genshin," and while his character Cyno has been voiced along with a few others, the rest of the cast is mostly absent in both events and permanent quests. Genshin Impact still remains a non-union contract. It's worth noting that Takanashi also thanks studio SIDE Tokyo for cooperation.

This is not the first time that Genshin Impact has replaced a voice actor: in 2023 the company replaced Elliot Gindi with Zachary Gordon, after the former was caught inappropriately engaging with underage fans. As that situation was quite different from the ongoing strike, it remains unclear whether we will be seeing more new names in the English cast lineup.

© COGNOSPHERE