Amelia Watson Ceases Activity From Hololive

[VSoyBoy]

Year started with a termination
Then a graduation
Now a weird soft graduation

Predicting this in a few months:

Spoiler

An Announcement Regarding Gawr Gura

Thank you for your continued support of Hololive Production.

We have come to announce that Gawr Gura, a member of Hololive English, will continue to barely stream and be lazy now, today, and forever.

We would like to reserve thanks to her fans, and instead refer them to this phone number (202) 324-3000.

Though she will only stream when she needs to fulfill her quota for the quarter of proving she exists, Gawr Gura will remain the frontmost mascot of Hololive EN moving forward.

We kindly request you refrain from contacting our talents on the matter, because they don't know what the hell she's off doing right now either, and would like to sincerely thank you for your continued paypigging of Gawr Gura

This reminds me:

There will be no graduations nor terminations this year I swear by God

Edit: Or deaths too

You're gonna weasel yourself out of this one with the affiliate thing?

 

[El Rrata]

If she really goes indie then temper your expectations.
We heard the "now she can do whatever she wants" before and got severely disappointed.

I hope she finds self fulfillment with her endeavors. Just rather be positively surprised instead of over expecting.

I don't expect any crazy changes now that we know more. It is possible that she wanted to do more 3D content that was too far from Cover's vision.

For example, Kiara said around Easter that Advent wasn't allowed to get chibi 3D models like Myth and CouncilRyS. If Cover was cracking down on the wacky 3D they were doing, that would explain what killed Ame's drive, since those projects are where she really thrived. They may have been okay with stuff like Kiara's modified 3D model because it doesn't stray TOO far from her design, but stuff like Ame's 3D forms may have been too much for Japanese corpo sensibilities.

 

[NeneHATE]

It's really fucking strange that Cover agreed to keep the door open in this situation. This doesn't really benefit them at all since it just acts as a nice convenient way for people to come crawling back if indie life doesn't work out, the corpo would benefit a lot more if leaving was final no takebacks since that makes it carry a lot more weight.

If she succeeds at going her own way then she's never coming back, if she doesn't then she just returns to being inactive for months at a time. The IP isn't valuable enough that if I was in the company's position I'd have agreed. Maybe having her on a leash so that Vshojo doesn't instantly poach her is the main objective?

 

[Negzana]

This reminds me:

You're gonna weasel yourself out of this one with the affiliate thing?

Well uh there's the fact that uh yeah

 

[Dispirited Helmet]

Damn. Thought she would do something different like become a producer or do tech innovation. Full time streamer again? OK...

I think she's going to be doing something with 3D and using her indie stuff to develop/fund it. It's the only thing that makes sense at this point, and there IS a market for it. Filian has based her entire channel off of Mocopi capture, for example. Cover simply does not have the time or resources to invest into large-scale development of true 3D tracking on a daily basis, their studio is overbooked as is. I'd bet one of Ame's cards for negotiating the soft graduation was Cover getting first dibs on anything she figures out that can push the 3D envelope further. Cover essentially subsidizes their costs on development by making Ame an independent 3D contractor in the States, while also maintaining merchandising rights to the Watson IP; Ame gets the green light to pursue her passion projects without JP red tape and a way to rejoin the company proper if she needs to.

Now that it is clear that she's raring to go as an indie, I feel much better about her leaving. I'd even be willing to bet that Cover wanted to make it work with Ame without "graduating" her, but some fine print in Hololive's talent contracts was preventing both sides from being able to continue in the way they had been. Maybe something about ownership rights of intellectual property used or created on stream by a talent? Cover would NOT bend that rule in a conventional contract structure, it might make potential problems for them with other talents down the line.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what happens now.

 

[RiverBear]

It's really fucking strange that Cover agreed to keep the door open in this situation. This doesn't really benefit them at all since it just acts as a nice convenient way for people to come crawling back if indie life doesn't work out, the corpo would benefit a lot more if leaving was final no takebacks since that makes it carry a lot more weight.

If she succeeds at going her own way then she's never coming back, if she doesn't then she just returns to being inactive for months at a time. The IP isn't valuable enough that if I was in the company's position I'd have agreed. Maybe having her on a leash so that Vshojo doesn't instantly poach her is the main objective?

Most likely her in house 3d studio is the main reason

The only other person with an in house 3d studio is Altare, and we all know what would happen if the fans ever hear that the boys and the girls even so much as breathe the same air.

Hopefully Cover's USA branch gets their own 3d studio so that they don't need Amelia and she can wallow in her on shit for all I care.

 

[PleaseCheckYourReceipts]

I think she's going to be doing something with 3D and using her indie stuff to develop/fund it. It's the only thing that makes sense at this point, and there IS a market for it. Filian has based her entire channel off of Mocopi capture, for example. Cover simply does not have the time or resources to invest into large-scale development of true 3D tracking on a daily basis, their studio is overbooked as is. I'd bet one of Ame's cards for negotiating the soft graduation was Cover getting first dibs on anything she figures out that can push the 3D envelope further. Cover essentially subsidizes their costs on development by making Ame an independent 3D contractor in the States, while also maintaining merchandising rights to the Watson IP; Ame gets the green light to pursue her passion projects without JP red tape and a way to rejoin the company proper if she needs to.

Now that it is clear that she's raring to go as an indie, I feel much better about her leaving. I'd even be willing to bet that Cover wanted to make it work with Ame without "graduating" her, but some fine print in Hololive's talent contracts was preventing both sides from being able to continue in the way they had been. Maybe something about ownership rights of intellectual property used or created on stream by a talent? Cover would NOT bend that rule in a conventional contract structure, it might make potential problems for them with other talents down the line.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what happens now.

Generally, Cover would have ownership rights to anything she created while an employee. It's really standard Tech Sector employment contracts. That's likely involved in Ame's decision.

As for the infinite dimensional Ame variants, I actually do feel it was an issue for Cover because of the scale they're at now. One of their primary revenue sources is Brand sales, which requires quite a lot of uniformity with character designs. If the fanbase latches on to a non-standard design, it would both hurt sales and sponsorship opportunities. At least, in time it would. It's one of those unfortune but logical realities for where the business is at right now.

 

[Superduper Samurai]

Some people are jumping the gun on the optimism or the dooming when the affiliate bit isnt at all even in play until she retires. Its so unprecedented that we really do have to wait and see what are the implications of the deal.
Kson's comment is a bit wierd and retarded even if imo speculation on it being a fully talent decision is not too far ferched, even if its the most uncharitable intepretation.

I think people shouldnt be surprised she is wanting to have a form of post holo branding, its smart since it prevents impersonations and in the end people will want some small amount of non-corpo income. (Dokibird still sold merch sparodically even when she was still Selen, same with Demondice, Mel did the same too, iirc)

Overall, i know speculation is warranted, but its better to just wait and see at this point, we're all just spectators to a massive (foriegn) company's decisions.

 

[roktofferson]

Some people are jumping the gun on the optimism or the dooming when the affiliate bit isnt at all even in play until she retires. Its so unprecedented that we really do have to wait and see what are the implications of the deal.
Kson's comment is a bit wierd and retarded even if imo speculation on it being a fully talent decision is not too far ferched, even if its the most uncharitable intepretation.

I think people shouldnt be surprised she is wanting to have a form of post holo branding, its smart since it prevents impersonations and in the end people will want some small amount of non-corpo income. (Dokibird still sold merch sparodically even when she was still Selen, same with Demondice, Mel did the same too, iirc)

Overall, i know speculation is warranted, but its better to just wait and see at this point, we're all just spectators to a massive (foriegn) company's decisions.

boring

 

[Not Important]

It's really fucking strange that Cover agreed to keep the door open in this situation. This doesn't really benefit them at all since it just acts as a nice convenient way for people to come crawling back if indie life doesn't work out, the corpo would benefit a lot more if leaving was final no takebacks since that makes it carry a lot more weight.

How it doesn't benefit them? Cover is an IP farm. Retaining IPs is in their utmost interest. Losing them - is not.
Watson is a large IP and losing not only will hit their bottom line, but, will somewhat damage their reputation somewhat. What with the line of graduation and terminations throughout the whole year.

This "ameway" is the best possible scenario - Cover gets money from IP, and doesn't need to redo bunch of merchandise and projects, Ame gets the cut and Cover as a whole looks like a gracious innovator, which handles their streamers much better deal than rivals.
Quite simple.

Also, this whole sperging about Kson's comment is outright retarded /vt/ tier schizo retardness of obsessed cretins. Its not her who has a chip on shoulder, it is some of the local retards, who misconstrue generic comment into "she is a horrible bitch, who hates Cover". Maybe there were situations where she have said something to give off such impression, but if translation is to be believed, it is not one of those.

 

[El Rrata]

Some people are jumping the gun on the optimism or the dooming when the affiliate bit isnt at all even in play until she retires. Its so unprecedented that we really do have to wait and see what are the implications of the deal.
Kson's comment is a bit wierd and retarded even if imo speculation on it being a fully talent decision is not too far ferched, even if its the most uncharitable intepretation.

I think people shouldnt be surprised she is wanting to have a form of post holo branding, its smart since it prevents impersonations and in the end people will want some small amount of non-corpo income. (Dokibird still sold merch sparodically even when she was still Selen, same with Demondice, Mel did the same too, iirc)

Overall, i know speculation is warranted, but its better to just wait and see at this point, we're all just spectators to a massive (foriegn) company's decisions.

I am more interested in Ame's solo pursuits than the affiliate thing. That seems pretty straight forward in that she may show up from time to time as a supporting character in events, or she may not. The only thing to really speculate there is what kind of events and how often. I am not too worried about those things, as her prescence will just be a bonus at this point.

What she plans to do when she goes indie is far more interesting to me and it is just nice to see she has plans to do something. At the end of the day, I have always like watching Ame the streamer. She has always been my second favorite Myth member and a strong, chill solo streamer. Basically, I am just glad she isn't quitting streaming lol

 

[tragic amphibian]

Generally, Cover would have ownership rights to anything she created while an employee. It's really standard Tech Sector employment contracts. That's likely involved in Ame's decision.

This is a big and complicating thing in an employment contract. I was in the QA mines at a major video game company for 5 years and they had what we referred to as the "we own your brain" clause. In our case it was a first right of refusal for anything you made that you wanted to publish or monetize in any way: comics, novels, patents, podcasts (again, if monetized), engineering design, ANYTHING.

One guy had a boardgame he wanted to publish which ended up in legal limbo for a few months because they were debating whether or not to roll some of the ideas into one of their IPs. The suits eventually relented and let him do his own thing.

We know that additional streaming and content creation is allowed but no one else has been doing tech development like Ame has. This might even be just one of multiple factors in her decision.

 

[Sankisei]

I am more interested in Ame's solo pursuits than the affiliate thing. That seems pretty straight forward in that she may show up from time to time as a supporting character in events, or she may not. The only thing to really speculate there is what kind of events and how often. I am not too worried about those things, as her prescence will just be a bonus at this point.

What she plans to do when she goes indie is far more interesting to me and it is just nice to see she has plans to do something. At the end of the day, I have always like watching Ame the streamer. She has always been my second favorite Myth member and a strong, chill solo streamer. Basically, I am just glad she isn't quitting streaming lol

I think with a model like that we can expect a lot of experiments with 3D wich is my favorite Ame content

Also these are very cute

 

[NeneHATE]

Also, this whole sperging about Kson's comment is outright retarded /vt/ tier schizo retardness of obsessed cretins. Its not her who has a chip on shoulder, it is some of the local retards, who misconstrue generic comment into "she is a horrible bitch, who hates Cover". Maybe there were situations where she have said something to give off such impression, but if translation is to be believed, it is not one of those.

I think people (including myself) had a negative reaction to it because it's not just "one comment" it's continuous random jabs at the company for years after she's been out. This one was prompted by a chatter but the last one where she shames people who stopped watching her as a response to Aqua's departure definitely was not.

 

[El Rrata]

I think people (including myself) had a negative reaction to it because it's not just "one comment" it's continuous random jabs at the company for years after she's been out. This one was prompted by a chatter but the last one where she shames people who stopped watching her as a response to Aqua's departure definitely was not.

I don't even "hate" Kson, and will more often than not defend her. It is ONLY when she gives these stupid corpo hot takes that I criticize her. She has legitimately retarded ideas about how a corporation should be ran. Corportations will not "trade IPs", that's retarded. Corportations will not give you more than 50% of a merch cut when they are the ones in charge of manufacturing, logistics, and distribution, that's retarded. We don't need to hear you vaguepost about some situation you had no part of because someone baited you in chat to, that's retarded.

So yeah, if she says retarded shit, I am gonna call her retarded. It's pretty simple.

I think with a model like that we can expect a lot of experiments with 3D wich is my favorite Ame content

Also these are very cute

That green character is a tamagotchi, not something of hers.

 

[Sankisei]

I don't even "hate" Kson, and will more often than not defend her. It is ONLY when she gives these stupid corpo hot takes that I criticize her. She has legitimately retarded ideas about how a corporation should be ran. Corportations will not "trade IPs", that's retarded. Corportations will not give you more than 50% of a merch cut when they are the ones in charge of manufacturing, logistics, and distribution, that's retarded. We don't need to hear you vaguepost about some situation you had no part of because someone baited you in chat to, that's retarded.

So yeah, if she says retarded shit, I am gonna call her retarded. It's pretty simple.


That green character is a tamagotchi, not something of hers.

I was talking about the Roingus its very cute and any post with that becomes funny

 

[PleaseCheckYourReceipts]

This is a big and complicating thing in an employment contract. I was in the QA mines at a major video game company for 5 years and they had what we referred to as the "we own your brain" clause. In our case it was a first right of refusal for anything you made that you wanted to publish or monetize in any way: comics, novels, patents, podcasts (again, if monetized), engineering design, ANYTHING.

One guy had a boardgame he wanted to publish which ended up in legal limbo for a few months because they were debating whether or not to roll some of the ideas into one of their IPs. The suits eventually relented and let him do his own thing.

We know that additional streaming and content creation is allowed but no one else has been doing tech development like Ame has. This might even be just one of multiple factors in her decision.

I have a number of engineers in tech in my broader circle of contacts, all of them have that part of their contract. You can do stuff wholly off time as your own, but it can get really dicey because you obviously have a lot of information others don't. And occasionally it ends up in big lawsuits among the tech companies when someone moves, even though they move around a lot.

And Ame has had insider access to a lot of Cover's own tech. Cover does contract with a lot of other technology providers, but they clearly have a bunch of inhouse VR tech and that could easily complicate a lot of things if she was doing any sort of direct development work on her own.

 

[Hotdogs Aplenty]

I don't expect any crazy changes now that we know more. It is possible that she wanted to do more 3D content that was too far from Cover's vision.

For example, Kiara said around Easter that Advent wasn't allowed to get chibi 3D models like Myth and CouncilRyS. If Cover was cracking down on the wacky 3D they were doing, that would explain what killed Ame's drive, since those projects are where she really thrived. They may have been okay with stuff like Kiara's modified 3D model because it doesn't stray TOO far from her design, but stuff like Ame's 3D forms may have been too much for Japanese corpo sensibilities.

Cover was afraid of not being able to use the smol Ame suit at the conventions.

 

[Not-Username]

Cover was afraid of not being able to use the smol Ame suit at the conventions.

Rather smol ame threatened them to still take part

 

[Hff201]

Also, this whole sperging about Kson's comment is outright retarded /vt/ tier schizo retardness of obsessed cretins. Its not her who has a chip on shoulder, it is some of the local retards, who misconstrue generic comment into "she is a horrible bitch, who hates Cover". Maybe there were situations where she have said something to give off such impression, but if translation is to be believed, it is not one of those.

I think people (including myself) had a negative reaction to it because it's not just "one comment" it's continuous random jabs at the company for years after she's been out. This one was prompted by a chatter but the last one where she shames people who stopped watching her as a response to Aqua's departure definitely was not.

I don't even "hate" Kson, and will more often than not defend her. It is ONLY when she gives these stupid corpo hot takes that I criticize her. She has legitimately retarded ideas about how a corporation should be ran. Corportations will not "trade IPs", that's retarded. Corportations will not give you more than 50% of a merch cut when they are the ones in charge of manufacturing, logistics, and distribution, that's retarded. We don't need to hear you vaguepost about some situation you had no part of because someone baited you in chat to, that's retarded.

So yeah, if she says retarded shit, I am gonna call her retarded. It's pretty simple.

I can't say I'm surprised at Kson having retarded takes on vtuber corpos, since I imagine the West Taiwan shit put her in a very unique situation most people won't experience. I don't doubt for a second that she was kept at arm's length and generally treated like an inconvenience within Hololive solely because anyone who breathed the same air as her back then was guaranteed to be bombarded with shit from angry chinks. Add on the fact she was almost definitely given a sweetheart deal with VShojo to try to legitimise their attempt to start a JP branch (while selling themselves as the anti-Hololive, this was the birth of their "Talent Freedom" shit, after all), and you can kind of see why she has the perspective she has.

It's just frustrating when she talks as a figure of authority, since despite being influential, she doesn't represent 99% of the industry.