Court orders two defendants to pay miHoYo 1 million yuan in Honkai: Star Rail trade-secret case
Two defendants have been ordered to jointly pay miHoYo 1 million yuan (approximately ¥23.7 million) after a court found that unreleased Honkai: Star Rail test data had been used in a trade-secret infringement. One defendant published instructions that enabled others to access unreleased content, according to miHoYo’s account of the case. The first-instance judgment has taken effect and also requires both defendants to stop the infringement and post statements on their channels for 30 days.
Two defendants in a case involving unreleased Honkai: Star Rail test data have been ordered to jointly pay miHoYo 1 million yuan, approximately ¥23.7 million, for economic losses and the costs of protecting its rights. miHoYo’s legal department announced the first-instance judgment on October 28; the judgment has taken effect.
The case concerned more than the publication of early game details. According to the account of the dispute, Yang, who operated a Tencent channel called Coffee Forest, obtained test data for an unreleased version of Honkai: Star Rail and posted both the data and instructions for using it. Following those instructions enabled other users to access the unreleased content. The other defendant, Guo, was accused of obtaining test data through illegal means and distributing extracted material, including characters, skills and gameplay footage.
The court found trade-secret infringement. Its order requires the two defendants to:
- Stop infringing miHoYo’s trade secrets.
- Post a statement on their Bilibili account and QQ Video channel homepage for 30 consecutive days.
- Jointly pay the 1 million yuan award.
miHoYo and its subsidiary COGNOSPHERE have also pursued other leaks of unreleased HoYoverse content. In a separate case earlier in 2026, a court ordered a person who livestreamed unreleased footage on Discord to pay approximately ¥2.6 million. This judgment stands out not only for its larger award, but for the reported distribution of instructions that let others access the Star Rail test content themselves. The available account does not establish how much weight the court gave those instructions when setting the award.
