Earlier final month, Pikamee, a well-liked vtuber canceled her Hogwarts Legacy stream and went offline for 3 weeks, neither tweeting nor creating video content material from February 8 via March 1. Yesterday, she introduced she’s going to retire from her vtubing profession totally. Offended followers have latched onto the Hogwarts Legacy controversy as the rationale why their favourite vtuber will not produce content material. But it surely’s extra sophisticated than that.
Pikamee initially deliberate to stream Hogwarts Legacy when it launched on February 10. Upon reportedly receiving criticism for plans to broadcast such a controversial recreation, she canceled her stream and stopped producing content material for the remainder of February (The unique tweet is deleted, however you’ll be able to see a duplicate of it right here).
Yesterday, her company, VOMS Challenge, announced she is “graduating” from the vtubing group. The official announcement made no point out of whether or not or not the vtuber had deliberate to retire earlier than her streaming plans blew up, but it surely emphasised that she wished to depart in a “constructive” manner. Kotaku reached out to VOMS Challenge to ask if the canceled Hogwarts Legacy stream contributed to Pikamee’s retirement plans however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.
Many individuals, inside and past the bigger gaming group have voiced considerations about selling Hogwarts Legacy as it can, in flip, monetarily help Harry Potter creator J.Ok. Rowling, who has repeatedly expressed anti-trans sentiments. A Reddit thread suggests that the unfavourable feedback on Pikamee’s announcement of her Legacy stream included threats to unsub or expressed private disappointment. Kotaku additionally seen movies from different vtubers displaying the unfavourable responses to Pikamee, which included commenters reportedly attempting to elucidate their causes for the urged boycott or questioning her dedication as an ally to transgender individuals. Different streamers have confronted related criticism.
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As a result of Pikamee’s Hogwarts Legacy tweets have been deleted, it’s laborious to get a holistic view of how strongly individuals really opposed her stream, although proof suggests the criticism was clear in its disappointment however didn’t appear to escalate to harassment. Nonetheless, Pikamee’s most militant followers appeared to take difficulty with the callout all the identical. Between the quote retweets on the official retirement announcement and the tweets discovered by looking out “Vtuber” on Twitter, individuals are upset on the chance that opposition to Pikamee due to her resolution to stream Hogwarts Legacy led to her retirement (which once more, is presently unconfirmed).
This mere chance has led trans streamers and allies to fear the hypothesis will result in elevated transphobia within the vtuber community because it paints the issue group as trans individuals and trans allies. One tweet indignant over Pikamee’s retirement confirmed an edited picture depicting Hatsune Miku, a music software program mascot, burning a trans flag. A number of mentioned that trans individuals deserved their oppression. Others condemned your complete queer group. Some tweets contained ableist slurs and threats towards transgender individuals. From all of the anti-LGBTQ tweets in relation to Pikamee presently trending on Twitter, (and one slur-filled thread on the hate discussion board Kiwifarms), the concern seems well-founded.
No matter Pikamee meant to her followers whereas she was actively streaming, it appears she’s now change into a martyr for these bemoaning the unwanted side effects of “cancel tradition” and others on the lookout for an excuse to assault a marginalized group. Followers have expressed that it’s not what she would have wished from her group—if solely her followers would take her easygoing perspective to coronary heart in gentle of her retirement.