Weekly NewsDrop #38—June 17, 2023

It's OffKai Expo Weekend! VTubers celebrate the annual event this time held at Burlingame, California—and we got some headlines from the event we've gathered just by... watching them have fun and post it online.

Before this: Twitch was in hot water last week, and continues to be in such as they launch their Partner Plus program. More on this after the jump.

Latest on NewsDrop

• Brave Group Announces Europe Expansion, Launches 'Globie' VTuber Agency
• PixelLink Unveils 1st Gen Lineup of Gaming VTubers this weekend
• Hololive English's "Connect the World" Music Video Released Ahead of 1st Concert
• On Behind the Model: VTubers I Love, who is also visiting OffKai, talks about his clipping style.

Here's the latest stock market update of key #VTuber players as of Friday, June 16:

Biggest VTuber News of the Week

The second edition of OffKai Expo held at Hyatt Regency in Burlingame, California gathers VTubers, fans and related companies once again for a weekend of fun and festivities—but it is not without its set of headlines:

Someone was pretending to be the popular VTuber clipper Cooksie–he was so good, he fooled Evan and Filian. The man has been given the monicker "Crooksie" and has made VTubers concerned.

• Cooksie has tweeted to clarify that they were not at the event.
• Persephone, Riikami and Camila confirm in separate accounts that the guy who impersonated the clipper went to Anime Los Angeles introducing himself as someone who works for him; was at Weebcon "literally stalking" VTubers; and is always around VTubers.
• Staff were already informed of this and issued a warning: "... individuals found to be impersonating will have their badge revoked and asked to leave the event."

Just as it is on stream, VTubers ain't themselves without the scuff—technical matters pushed the schedule for some segments past their published times.

OffKai's mascot now has a name: "The Right Honourable, the Former Deputy Head of Grand Council, Lady Samantha-Joel 'OffKai McOffKaiFace' Berlington XIV (Patent Pending)." Sounds like a name only Rin Penrose can make up.

Day 2 is happening at the moment, and we continue watching streams from the Main Stage as well as Evanit0 for the latest. We're also sharing moments from the event on Twitter as it unfolds.

In Other News

Platforms: Reddit Blackout, YouTube Partner Program, Twitch Partner Plus

The popular social media platform Reddit is currently experiencing a massive ‘blackout’, with subreddits protesting changes to third-party APIs mandated by the platform.

• As of this writing, more than 6,000 subreddits have either gone private or have restricted access–and show no signs of slowing down. According to CEO Steve Huffman, they will be introducing new changes to weaken the status of moderators who joined the online protest, much to more fury and disappointment from users.

YouTube has now lowered its requirements to join its “Partner Program”, which include 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads, and 3000 watch hours or 3,000,000 YouTube Shorts views in 90 days.

Twitch has announced “Partner Plus Program”, where eligible creators can get a 70/30 revenue share–albeit requiring at least 350 recurring paid subscribers per month to avail.

• This was once again met with criticism from streamers amidst a steady slew of blows for the platform.
• More recently, they backpedaled its new branded content guidelines, and now one of its biggest streamers xQc has recently signed a deal with rival platform Kick for a whopping US$100 million–arguably one of the biggest contract deals in streaming history.

A new VTuber-centric platform, Hyper, has raised US$3.6 million from Amazon and other investors, as reported by TechCrunch.

News About VTuber Agencies

• Idol Corp CEO Aviel Basin has announced that they have successfully closed a new seed funding round. The amount raised is not disclosed to the public.
• In several Cover Corp-related announcements, they have released several exclusive articles, which included what went through Hoshimachi Suisei’s “The First Take” production, its internal “Cover Award 2022” event, and more impressively–its new office building in Tokyo.
• Hololive has announced a merchandise collaboration with popular Japanese convenience store chain 7-Eleven, albeit only available in Japan.
• The Las Vegas Licensing Expo has seen several VTuber-related companies exhibit, including ANYCOLOR, Cover Corp, Crunchyroll, and UTA.
• Researcher Liudmila Bredikhina is calling the attention of Twitter followers to suggest what they want to focus on for their new Social VR Lifestyle Survey.
• VShojo has unveiled its Maid Cafe project through this hilarious animation done by Alice Magic.
• Following the debut of Brave Group’s V4Mirai, an official online store for Brave Group has been opened, allowing US fans to buy merchandise from the VTuber company. In other V4Mirai news, here’s a glorious clip of its talent Serina Maiko singing Bowser’s “Peach”.
• Project Livium is teaming up with the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Cultural Studies for their "Livium Goes To Campus" program.
• Projekt Hikayat has announced that its talent Manika Kuramu is graduating from the agency to pursue her VTubing career as an indie.
• RealCorp has announced that its talent Xander Fangsworth has decided to buy out his contract to pursue other opportunities.
• Hoshizora Entertainment has announced that Hoshino Laplace will be leaving the agency to become an indie VTuber.
• The newly-instated CEO of Project Solaria Hideki has announced key changes to the agency, including designating himself as the talent manager of its current talents.
• Also: Embattled Filipino VTuber agency KoMETA recently concluded its 'press conference', mentioning Miria and Virgil’s exit, as well Elaine’s graduation, and the future of the agency.

For Your Additional Reading

• Eight of ten of the most-watched VTubers for May this year are Japanese, with Admiral Bahroo being the sole English-speaking VTuber on the list; according to Stream Charts.
• Here’s a cute little video from VReverie’s Akiko Sushi on what she does as a part-time VTuber, revealing she spends nine hours per weekday doing her VTuber stuff.
• In the more insightful part of VTubing, here’s a great thread by Rad when they experimented on whether it is easier growing online being a female VTuber.
• VGen has announced the eighteenth batch of partner artists.
• Japanese VTuber Todoki Uka has announced that she has given birth to her first child. Congratulations!
• VTubing tool VUP has announced that it is ceasing operations starting June 27.
• Milky Queen has launched an online music course, where she will teach how to produce music as a virtual artist.
• Here’s the (actual) voice reveal of Opera GX’s Aura. Was it worth it? Okay, we’re actually kidding: she just did a song cover snippet with Idol.
• The Web3 x VTuber project “Vhigh!” has teamed up with the Matsuo Institute to experiment on AITubers.
• The Live2D Creative Awards is now officially open, with submissions open up until October 16.

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