Genshin Impact age verification: what is it and how to keep playing

HoYoverse has announced that Genshin Impact players in the U.S. need to verify their age in order to continue playing the popular MMORPG starting on May 20.

The Chinese game studio made the announcement on its official website on Wednesday, saying that every new and existing player based in the U.S., regardless of their age, must undergo the game’s age verification system between this month and July 20, 2026. Otherwise, their accounts will be deleted permanently.

What is the age verification system in Genshin Impact?

The first line of HoYoverse’s announcement of the new age verification system in Genshin Impact reads, “We are required by law to age verify US player accounts.” This means the news likely came as a result of the FTC’s decision earlier this year to ban HoYoverse from selling loot boxes to children under 16 without their parental consent after it found that the game unfairly marketed loot boxes to kids and teens. According to the decision, the complaint from the Department of Justice alleged that Genshin Impact misled kids about the true cost of the game’s microtransactions and rare prizes locked in its gacha mechanics, such as new characters, causing them to spend a lot of money on items they had little to no chance of winning.

The commission also found that Genshin Impact collected personal information about child players in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a law that protects children under 13 from online data collection without parental consent, even though HoYoverse was aware that kids under 13 were playing the game. The decision also required HoYoverse to pay a $20 million fine over the loot boxes.

How to keep playing Genshin Impact

The new age verification system will roll out to all Genshin Impact players by May 20. If you already have a HoYoverse account or are registering to play the game for the first time, you need to provide your age upon login by July 18. Failure to do so will result in your account getting suspended, and all your in-game friends and chat records will be erased. You will also receive no new notifications about game updates and the like since you won’t be able to access your account anymore.

If you don’t verify your age by July 20, 2026, all your personal information in your HoYoverse account will be deleted permanently. The next time you log in to Genshin Impact between now and next summer, we highly recommend you provide your actual birthday the second you see the page telling you to do so.