>>91725703As with everything else, people with vision have to be the ones that forms the core of the company.
For Hololive, Sora and A-chan were the ones with the idea, Yagoo was merely a vehicle for fulfilling that idea.
With the addition of more girls, the idea of "Hololive" has evolved, and taken a while to form as a "core" - but that core is now steadying itself for a big leap.
Using this method caused the talents themselves have both a stake, AND a responsibility in shaping or helping shape what the company is to become.
This is why hags like Foobs or Mio urged all the holos who were on the verge of giving up to keep going for a bit longer.
Most of these EN micro corps are formed around the idea of a CEO who just wants to cash in on a trend with no idea about what he wants to do or how he wants to do it.
They just grab talents from wherever, put them together and just hope for the best.
There is no core vision, no boundary separating the idea of "their" corp from any of the other micro corps. And something that's not unique, will not feel special.
VTubing is supposed to be an "art" not a simple job where you do transactions of audience intimacy in return for money. The big players already provide that - and much more.
In a corpo whose "idea" is the CEO going "iunno, I just thought virtual e-girls = money" how can you expect any of their talents to stick to that corpo through thick and this, or even urge other talents to do so? If you don't have a core, a method, or an idea in which to believe in, why would you stay in one corpo when you get a better paying job either irl or in another VTubing company?
Companies can evolve just like streamers. You could recruit a group of 5 to be "funny League-playing VTubers" with a close-knit vibe (no esports shit). That niche went unfilled for so long that holos have started to encroach into it themselves with Gigi leading the way. You don't need to stick to that idea, but once you have an idea of what the "core" of your group will be, you can shape the company and future recruits around that idea, and build a decent enough niche for yourself.
Hell, simply having longevity of like 2-3 years (and promising more) would be enough to get many once-burned people to invest (but obviously, with such promises come more responsibility to that audience as well).
Phase is pretty much the only company that has survived this purge, off the back of the core idea of utterly mentally ill women and not giving a fuck about "perms" or anything like that due to being an American company (an advantage that most other corpos have not used to their full extent). But even their brand is on a tightrope - with Pippa's fans feeling the pull of the idea of the company splitting more and more from the idea of what Pippa used to be - the type of utterly unfiltered Pippa that initially attracted them.
And Pippa is around whom the original idea of Phase was formed, so any splits with either her or the "old her" will be quite a violent schism. If it happens.
Or maybe Pippa is happy with the current idea of the company and is fine matching her energy with that.
Time will tell.
In any case, no small VTuber company survives for very long because all of them are simply grifters who are in for some quick cash, and none of them so far have had any core idea or niche around which they tried to build. It's best if it comes from a group of talents themselves going to a CEO to form a partnership, but the second best way is to have a core cast which at least BELIEVES in the vision of the CEO - in more than a simple monetary sort of way.
Until some or the other company figures it out (it will likely be some non-Japanese company from Asia) the EN VTubing scene will continue to be this churning popcorn of small players.
