Cover CEO Hase Motoaki accepted an interview with Japanese media about Hololive’s Dragon Heart incident last year and future prospects | 4Gamers

The popularity of the Vtubers of Hololive is one of the major events in ACG this year. The CEO of Cover Motoaki Hase (alias: Yagoo) accepted an exclusive interview with the Japanese media Diamond Signal and talked about the operation of Cover in the past year, including Taiwanese Concerned about the Dragon Heart incident, and the future outlook of Cover.

Yuanzhao Gu established Cover in 2016. His first hope was to 3D existing cartoon characters and use them to conduct activities. However, he found that the animation production company was difficult to understand, and the complicated copyright and regulatory mechanisms made He gave up this idea. However, it was established at that time that the business goal of “Hololive Production” was to combine talents and games.

At the same time, it also established the first appearance in Live 2D and then converted to 3D.

Up to now, VTuber not only has its own affiliated brokerage companies, but also the number of activities in the form of live broadcast (live broadcast). Therefore, fans of the “box push” type (referred to by all members of the group) like AKB and the Good Morning family have gradually increased.

Yagoo said in an interview that compared to YouTubers, Vtuber is a relatively niche market and is only popular with specific fans. Therefore, it is difficult to make highly popular videos. Therefore, I hope to use live video to interact with the audience in time. , It can also save the trouble of film editing. And Vtuber is a combination of animation culture and foreign popular fighting mechanisms.

Yagoo said that although Twitch has a long history of fighting in the fight, there is a similar mechanism in Japan called “17Live”, so he hopes to bring this kind of culture to Vtuber.

According to the recent statistics in 2020, 7 of the global YouTube’s “Super Chat” in-fighting mechanism are ranked by Vtuber from Japan, and Kiryu Cocoa, who is at the top of the list, has been fought for more than 150 million yen. If only Japan is counted, 9 of the top 10 are all hololive Vtubers.

Yagoo revealed that he raised 700 million yen in May 2020, of which 40 million yen was used for the development of capture technology, and now has 10-figure (billions) yen in revenue a year, most of course from its Vtuber According to our performance, there are currently about 50 Vtuber under hololive, with a total of over 10 million subscriptions.

Yagoo said that when Vtubers debut, they only have Live 2D images. Only after reaching a certain subscription can they get 3D modules and participate in concerts. Fans will also witness Vtuber’s efforts and use SC to support it. This is the same as an idol group like AKB48, which is like buying more CDs to push the members onto the stage.

However, in 2020, Cover also encountered two major troubles. The first is the inflammation caused by copyright issues, and the second is the “Dragon Heart Incident” that many people are familiar with.

The process of the Dragon Heart incident will not be repeated here (Click here to review the incident), Yagoo said: “Due to the lack of consideration, the contract for the first and second phases (referring to CN) was terminated.” However, as experience, the company established a risk management committee to educate all the Vtuber on all possible possibilities. Minefield” and sharing information.

Yagoo said: “If we make mistakes, we will correct them in due course, but the people in Vtuber are also human beings. As a company, we must protect them from excessive attacks, and use this as a foundation. A business model where fans all over the world can have a happy heart.”

Yagoo believes that without the participation of overseas audiences, Vtuber’s subscriptions will hardly exceed the million mark. This is one of the reasons why Hololive has targeted overseas at the beginning. He also admitted that under the epidemic, many people The time spent at home has increased, so the interaction with Vtuber has become one of the new entertainment options for people.

“Japan has achieved a leading position in the Vtuber market, and Cover will use the “culture that only Japan can see” as a weapon, hoping to become a company that can challenge the global market.” Yagoo said.

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