Genshin Impact Turned Six While Still Patching 7.1: Two Hotfixes, 600 Primogems and Two Free 5-Stars
Genshin Impact hit its sixth anniversary on September 28, 2026. The same week, HoYoverse ran two hotfixes in a single day for version 7.1 and paid out 600 Primogems in maintenance and bug-fix compensation.
Version 7.1, "A Rekviem for the Underworld," went live on September 23 after a five-hour maintenance window, with 300 Primogems paid for downtime and another 300 as bug-fix compensation, collectable from in-game mail until September 26. Within three days, players reported a dungeon step that blocked Archon Quest progress and clients that would not launch at all. The anniversary rewards shipped anyway: 1,600 Primogems, 10 Intertwined Fates, one permanent 5-star selector, one limited 5-star selector and a reset of first-purchase bonuses.Compensation and reward details have been verified against the official patch notes; you can also cross-reference them with GameHub's version brief.
一、What shipped on September 23 — and what broke
Five hours of maintenance, 300 plus 300 Primogems
HoYoverse's own notice sets the terms: maintenance from 06:00 UTC+8 on September 23, an estimated five hours, compensated at 60 Primogems per hour, then a separate bug-fix compensation mail of 300 Primogems that expired on September 26.
Two hotfixes in a single day
The patch also added two 5-star characters: Vesna, a wind-element sword user, and Vodyanitsa, a hydro-element catalyst user, both on the first-half banners.
The official "V7.1 Known Issues & Update" thread shows two updates on September 24, at 11:45 and 17:45. Most of those changes were interface sorting. Two entries mattered more: an Ice Coffin interaction where Pyro and Geo attacks broke the coffin at incorrect rates after Stellar Glimmer reactions, and an English voice line in an Archon Quest cutscene that did not match the text.
二、The two bugs that actually mattered
A dungeon step that blocked the Archon Quest
ixbt.games reported on September 26 that in the "Black Feathers, Fallen at the Hour of Farewell" dungeon, some players could not possess the Koholazaur, which stopped the story from continuing. That is not a visual glitch, it is the main quest line refusing to advance. Compensation for a blocked quest arrives as Primogems, and the letter carrying it expires: the bug-fix mail had to be claimed by September 26, three days after launch.
Clients that would not launch
The same report describes players who could not start the game at all after installing 7.1, with no fix in sight at the time of writing. A matching crash thread on r/Genshin_Impact points at an Android WebView loading problem. That is community speculation, not a confirmed cause.
三、The sixth-anniversary haul: 1,600 Primogems, 10 Fates, two selectors
Permanent vs limited 5-star selectors
The permanent selector covers the eight "Wanderlust Invocation" 5-stars: Jean, Diluc, Qiqi, Mona, Keqing, Tighnari, Dehya and Yumemizuki Mizuki. The limited selector is the real anniversary prize, and it is gated behind completing the 7.1 Archon Quest, after which players pick one of six limited characters, reported as Baizhu, Varesa, Nilou, Tartaglia, Clorinde and Chiori.
四、Why this matters for the best gacha games in 2026
FGO's five-day streak ended, Genshin took two days
Japan's Google Play revenue chart for September 19 to 25 shows Fate/Grand Order's five-day run at the top ended, with Genshin Impact taking first place on two of those days as 7.1 rolled out. For anyone ranking the best gacha games of 2026, that is the clearest signal this month that a single patch can move a chart. Weekly gacha and anime-game charts are tracked on gghubs.com if you want to watch the pattern.
五、The risk: bigger patches, bigger blast radius
Version 7.1 shipped two new 5-stars, new Snezhnaya content, a Palace of the Stars editor update and anniversary events at the same time. Players experience that as one download; developers experience it as dozens of systems that all have to hold. Snezhnaya, the seventh nation, only opened in version 7.0 in August, so 7.1's story content sits on territory that is still new to most of the player base. HoYoverse's response was fast by live-service standards, two hotfixes plus compensation inside 48 hours. It still does not return the hours a blocked main quest costs a player.
六、My take: the anniversary exam is delivery, not generosity
Everything an anniversary is supposed to have is here, and more of it than last year. Players will remember the client that would not open, not the 600 Primogems. After six years, the most valuable asset a live game owns is the phrase "it runs when it launches." This year's birthday gift has the content. It does not have the packaging. On a six-year-old live game, a rough patch week costs more trust than a generous mail can buy back.
七、FAQ
When is Genshin Impact's sixth anniversary?
September 28, 2026. The game launched on September 28, 2020, and version 7.1 carries the anniversary content, with events and mail rewards running from late September into early November.
Are the 7.1 bugs fixed?
Not all of them. The two September 24 hotfixes handled part of the list, while the Ice Coffin break-rate issue and the English voice line are scheduled for a later version. No firm patch date has been given for the blocked Archon Quest step.
How many free 5-stars can I pick during the anniversary?
Two, one from each selector. The permanent "Wanderlust Invocation" selector offers eight 5-stars, and completing the 7.1 Archon Quest unlocks a second selector for six limited 5-stars, alongside 1,600 Primogems and 10 Intertwined Fates.