Weekly NewsDrop #9—Week 45

Twitch in SoKor, DeviantArt, Petra Gurin is Back and more VTuber News from last week.

Last week was a busy one for everyone—we're reading VTuber news from different places, and on this edition, we've gathered what we felt are the most important stories everyone needs to know.

  • Zenith had a week with DeviantArt: The art platform gave the VTuber design artist a free month of its Core subscription last Monday. Five days after that, DeviantArt announced new AI tools which include the Stable Diffusion-based DreamUp. Two hours after that announcement, Zenith stopped using the platform: "I’m sorry I ever recommended rejoining dA to my followers."
  • Speaking of DeviantArt's DreamUp: Initially, all art posted on DeviantArt were included in the dataset—but after a wild uproar which includes the news you read a few seconds ago, they made amends: "ALL deviations (art) are automatically labeled as NOT authorized for use in AI datasets."
  • In Indonesia: The voice talents for DigiKagi's Astra Aelia and Vilitera's Sylva Daina were let go. We're informed that Astra's voice talent committed a breach of contract, while Sylva's talent committed unethical behavior, both of which are grounds for dismissal.
  • In the wider Southeast Asian sphere: The VTuber.asia directory is growing as more demand for inclusion of VTubers on Twitch, especially in the Philippine context. Our good friend Valentino Ringo who takes care of the directory said that there are now 172 Philippine VTubers listed, with half of them streaming on the Amazon-owned platform.
  • Meanwhile, in South Korea: Twitch moved to remove access to videos on demand (VODs) for Korean users by next month. Regulations in the country led to the platform's decision. Last time, we heard that it set the maximum stream resolution to 720p due to operational costs.
  • Thanatos Invitational is happening right now, and Kawa's Senniursa led one of the teams. Make sure you drop by Domo's Twitch and give support to your favorite team this playoff day.
  • Petra Gurin is back after a long break which involved moving places. Her three-hour totsumachi stream with Nijisanji EN members has been viewed 87,000 times.

The Latest on NewsDrop

  • Activision Blizzard keeps funking up, as NecroNews adds more to the count
  • We got a review of Bayonetta 3: "More Action! More Chaos! More Demons!"
  • Here's a recap of Kawa Entertainment at Nishi Fest's Fall 2022 edition
  • Major Kizuna Ai news: Her upcoming anime adaptation has a name
📺
Inside Kawa: There are two reveals kept under wraps—one for the 14th and one for the 19th. All we know is that Kawa 2 will open soon. Check Kawa on Twitter for full details.

Room for Disagreement for Top Streamer Results

When Esports Business Intelligence provider Stream Hatchet released their latest ranking of Top 10 female streamers on Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming for the third quarter of this year:

  • Amouranth is on top followed by Hololive VTubers Usada Pekora (#2) and Sakura Miko (#3).
  • Other VTubers listed are Hololive's Hakui Koyori (#7), VShojo's Ironmouse (#8) and Nijisanji's Yuki Chihiro (#9).

Japanese data site VStats interjected this data with a tweet reply asking the service what place Hololive's Oozora Subaru and Nijisanji's Ars Almal ranked in their statistics:

VStats' data is based on information from YouTube only, so there's a room for disagreement on whose streamer actually ranked. VStats had already interjected when Stream Hatchet released its second-quarter results, asking the latter to "give us a more accurate tally."

We reached out to Stream Hatchet for feedback, and we shall update you as soon as we receive their reply.

Photo by DS stories on Pexels

Three Kinds of Harassment in the Metaverse

In a bid to investigate the reality of harassment that is happening in virtual spaces and in the metaverse, Swiss anthropologist Mila (Liudmila Bredikhina) and metaverse culture evangelist Virtual Girl Nem have recently published their recent report ‘Harassment in the Metaverse’.

This study analyzed over 900 respondents’ prompts in terms of the summary of types, intensity, and experience rates of harassment unique to VR and its impact on life in both the physical world and the metaverse.

In this study, the three types of harassment in the metaverse were defined: Verbal, Physical, and Environmental. The results from the survey show that sexual harassment is the most common among all of these types.

Photo Source: "Harassment in Metaverse (Nem x Mila)"

What's the Future of VTubers on Twitter?

Our Top Story is Twitter, where VTubers are either fearful of the platform's future or are still posting memes. Days after it included the checkmark with Twitter Blue subscriptions, counts of misinformation and impersonations have occurred, which led it to stop new signups.

Some VTubers are already taking their own initiatives to move to other platforms:

Read our take on this Twitter Chaos and its relevance to the VTuber community.


In Other News...

  • Las Vegas-based Otaku x Anime will escort several VTubers around the Sin City Anime convention this weekend: Inami Yoki,  Keriki Mara, Ruzuu, Orange is Borange, Elara, and Fuwako Yuni.
  • Five members of 774 inc.—Ichika Souya, Seshima Rui, Anko Kisaki, Huma Wat, and Kiki Shisui—tested positive for COVID-19.
  • Tickets for Hoshimachi Suisei's 2nd Live concert "Shout in Crisis" in January next year can now be purchased on Lawson Tickets.
  • YFU BABY will have her first IRL performance at Otakus with Attitude's 5th year anniversary happening during Anime NYC weekend.
  • Check out this PC Gamer review of an Origin gaming laptop which has a screenshot of Pomu Rainpuff playing Minecraft.
  • Alchemilla Menace raises the alarm on a YouTube channel impersonating Punkalopi who is also reuploading Alchemilla's videos as well.
  • Speaking of Punkalopi, she will hold a sponsored watch-along of Idol-EN's E-Sekai Generation debut on November 20.
  • Kotaku gave a recap of VTuber history by sharing the story of Colorful Magic and VStars, both of which ended disastrously.
  • The current trend inside Hololive English as of this posting: Katamari Damacy.
  • WACTOR opens auditions in Indonesia.

Stream Breaks and Graduations

Milestones and Debuts

We cap off this edition with a grand sighting of Houshou Marine's boat in Hong Kong. Have a great start of the week!

Banner Photo: Lyrica Ch on YouTube


You have reached the end of this week's NewsDrop. The good news is you can get notified of future releases via email—sign up with your email address below.

By doing so, you also receive information from us (and it won't be spam, we hate spam emails too.)

For news tips, mention @kawa_newsdrop on Twitter or email [email protected].


NewsDrop is produced in collaboration with Kawa Entertainment. The views and opinions written on NewsDrop do not necessarily reflect those of Kawa Entertainment and its talents. Read our Editorial Policy for more details.