>>58560910Novelty and production value is a big part of the EN market - covers, new waves, 3D streams/concerts - this highly produced content does a lot to distinguish the more well-resourced corporations from the smaller start-ups with no money. NijisanjiEN debuted during a period where a lot of that Hololive infrastructure was being worked through (recall the dearth of Hololive3D, the travel restrictions to Japan, and so on) with very slick production values for the time - a cover song for each wave; rapid-fire debuts, a watchalong program; heavy Twitter engagement. They proceeded to repeat this every 3-6 months with wave after successive wave - but the momentum has run out. The promised AR Live and future EN 3D debuts are nowhere in sight, and the production elements that once distinguished them have now been adopted by their competitors - not just Hololive but also the small corpos (for the overall better, IMO). NijiEN can't burn money indefinitely of course and individually no single small corpo is a threat, but I feel collectively they've had quite the impact.
Hololive retains the first place spot because they offer the big budget productions that remain unique to their situation, but currently many NijiEN streamers don't feel like they've got significantly more production resources available to them than the small corpo competitors (who are also becoming increasingly well resourced on their own).
