This is a good bit more random of a post, but I think it'll point to how some things are going to go in the next generation of Vtubing.
For various reasons, the algo sent me into an interesting rabbit hole.
There's going to end up being a really important history in Vtubing that stems from Honkai Star Rail very specifically. VAs have been in the Vtubing & streaming space for a while, but HSR seems to have caused a pretty heavy shift into a lot of newer VAs actually streaming. The important part is that the HSR VAs seem to all have contact with each other, which creates an automatic collab network on a very large scale. I'm guessing this VA network really started with Genshin Impact and has built up over time, but it's currently centered around Star Rail. I highlighted
Molly here because she's already a locked in 3 view that goes well in the 4 view range whenever there's a big release on any of the Gacha Games.
While they're mostly isolated to the Gacha Games at the moment, the network has drug a huge collection of the VAs into being setup to stream & streaming regularly. We're seeing the morphing of the VA industry and the normalization of some sort of hybrid with Vtubing. It's far more just PNGtubing, but I'd expect far more to join in. Obviously, there's actually a couple of heavy hitters as full Vtubers already, but we're going to see basically the entire English VA scene as Vtubers over the next couple of years and the type of Vtubing will be drawn in with it. It'll be far more bridged over with normal streamers and younger audiences pretty fast.
This is definitely a "look back at the effect in 5 years" post, but the instant I clicked on a Vtuber cringe whaling in a gacha game clip I came across this. It already has a really strong network effect and it'll keep growing.