TL;DR, "Also funny how big corpos are "stagnating the industry" by not changing but Holo reported a 50% growth,""Twitch has always allowed for various forms of expression, so it was no surprise when VTubing found a home on the platform, quickly gaining popularity among English-speaking audiences in 2019."
Well if you wanted your westoid bias then there it is, article about chuubas and the first word is fucking twitch, nice one. And no, vtubing didn't "gain popularity with EOPs in 2019", everybody knows english vtubing began in 2020 or very late 2019 if you want to be pedantic, but it definitely didn't begin on twitch and this article literally contradicts this later on.
"Since then, the novelty of avatar-based content may have worn off, but the format has stuck around."
So they see it as a dumb gimmick, well there is your second red flag that this writer likes vshojo.
"VTubing exploded onto the wider North American and European markets when Cover Corporation launched the English branch of Hololive Production in 2020."
Nice contradiction bro.
"Many creators that jumped on the trend have since stopped using their avatars, but at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a large increase in VTubers on Twitch and other streaming platforms, like YouTube, as models and equipment became more accessible to the general public."
This paragraph reads weird and it gives a strange sense of the timeline, the equipment became more accessible in 2018-19, the large increase happened in 2020 when covid was going on, and the grifters stopped latching onto the trend in 2021-2022 when covid ended.
"Twitch has since gone on to highlight a wide variety of VTubers through its VTuber Takeover promotion"
Never heard of it, also twitch, again.
"Twitch also reported that VTubing-related content on the platform shot up by some 350% between January and August 2022. Despite this, some have argued that the VTubing bubble has all but burst."
That "some" link leads to a fucking kotaku article that says the exact same shit, when you cite stuff like this please cite experts or at least people who are knowledgeable about the subject, not the other journos you're in cahoots with to shape narratives.
“I do feel that VTubing has become less novel as the market has become more saturated,” says a streamer with agency Nijisanji who is not approved to speak publicly. “There are obviously some ups and downs when it comes to working with an agency as well, which requires a lot of patience if I’m honest. And there are some decisions that are made that sometimes don’t make a lot of sense.”
If this is indeed vox and he doesn't watch other chuubas then yeah, it's pretty fucking embarrassing. Also "Who is not approved to speak publicly", you can say anything you want about niji but what are you expecting? For them to just say "yeah go shittalk us to some journos so they can twist your words into their own industry bashing narrative!" fuck you journo scum.
“Seeing agencies like Hololive and Nijisanji shut down entire branches or graduate talents without any real kind of information is heartbreaking for just about everyone involved in the process,” the source says.
In 2020, Hololive shuttered its Chinese division, graduating more than a handful of streamers."
But you aren't going to tell us WHY they graduated those chinese talents huh? Suits your narrative to just say that and pretend it was holo being evil I guess.
"Both Hololive and Nijisanji give creators very little freedom in terms of presentation, whereas newer agencies such as Idol allow talents to create their own concepts. While that may feel overwhelming to some, it allows for the talents behind these models to flex their creativity and create a persona that otherwise wouldn’t fit neatly into the clearly defined boxes some agencies slot them into."
Ah yes, gotta love the jews, gotta love that freedom. You know that I really hate how Niji fucks up and now Holo is tarred with the same brush? Get your fucking shit together you're making us all look bad and giving these parasites a narrative to follow.
“Agencies should allow for talents to experiment, so long as it isn’t hurting anyone,” says the source. “Let people fail and still have that opportunity for growth in the future. More risk-taking and trying to branch out in other ways instead of simply just streaming or following preestablished methods.”
I don't completely disagree with this, but if you just say it without context or nuance it feels like agencies do not experiment whatsoever, and that experimentation has no consequences other than just the abstract concept of "failing". Failing in this industry will mark your image for life, corpos are held to their failures for years after the fact by rabid legions of internet obsessives, and you really ignore the fact that the big two you so seem to despise are the ones who have pushed the industry forward all of these years.
"According to both of the people we interviewed for this story, this is an agreed-upon sentiment — that to prevent further stagnation, this not-so-niche form of content creation needs to reinvent itself and allow more freedom to its talents. Time will tell if larger agencies like Hololive (which reported 50% growth in its 2023 financial report) and Nijisanji will allow their talents to break the mold."
You interview two people, one of whom is clearly unhappy with their position and the other is a nobody, they don't represent the entire community. There are things called "polls" that you can do to gage public opinion. Also funny how big corpos are "stagnating the industry" by not changing but Holo reported a 50% growth, fucking ironic.
This journo has an obvious western bias, and doesn't once account for how massive vtubing is in japan and asia in general. Vtubing in the west has stagnated because it's full of boring, bland vtweeters and twitch nobodies who spend 2k bucks on a model with huge titties and expect to get rich off of that. Niji dropped the ball sure, but that doesn't mean EVERYONE is decaying. Also I get the feeling this guy would love Vshojo (even though they restrained themselves to not mention them) even when vshojo chuubas stolen from other corpos have a proven track record of NOT breaking the mold like they did before and just settling into cushy generic roles, I guess giving people talent freedom doesn't equate with better content.
LOL.