Screenshot via Pikamee/YouTube
Popular VTuber Amano Pikamee has announced that she is graduating from Project VOMS after three years with the organization. Although this is a sad time for VTuber fans, there were speculations that she is leaving a backup like she got when she wanted to play The Hogwarts legacy on a stream.
The news was announced last night through the VOMS Project’s Twitter account, where they announced that Pikamee would be graduating and ending its operations by the end of March 2023. The group asked the staff -continue to support the graduating VTuber for the remaining month before she leaves.
The news was also announced on Pikamee’s YouTube channel, in a video titled “Arigatou!” where she said that she will finish all activities by the end of March, Japan time, and that she enjoyed her time as a VTuber. She apologized to those who may have been shocked or saddened by the news.
While many expressed disappointment at the VTuber’s departure, there was speculation that this could be due to a backlash when she announced she would be streaming. The Hogwarts legacy. In a now-deleted tweet originally posted on February 7, 2023, Pikamee called out those who didn’t want her to play the new one. Harry Potter game, telling them that she “doesn’t support anything in particular” and just wants to play it.
This led to speculation that her decision was due to boycotts and harassment of Twitch streamers for playing “that wizard game”.
Fortunately, the The Hogwarts legacy Controversy is not the reason she is graduating. If you read the graduation announcement closely, it showed that the graduation was planned before The Hogwarts legacy released to the public. Twitter user @ToastCrust pointed out that there is no way to set up a pop-up store immediately after a video game backup due to discussions and planning. This meant that the graduation was supposed to happen. It’s just that the news was announced after the VTuber received hate, which led to misinformation.
However, the order of events has been debated since Pikamee’s now-deleted tweet on February 7, and the pop-up shop was first announced three days later. Whatever the case, it looks like Pikamee has decided to graduate due to backlash.
After Pikamee graduates, all her accounts will be inactive and private. At the same time, her merchandise will no longer be sold once she is gone and will be discontinued. As for uploaded content, all of it will be deleted after its last stream.
Since then The Hogwarts legacy release, there has been a campaign to stop Twitch streamers from playing the game. This started online bullying and harassment from both sides, and a website (which was eventually taken down) that was used to find out if a Twitch streamer was playing the game. Regardless, the game ended up being the most streamed game at launch, peaking at around a million views on Twitch alone.
