Top VTuber ditches her talent agency over ‘owed’ $500k charity donation

On July 21st, 6,669-year-old demon queen Ironmouse,  posted an 11-minute video explaining that she is leaving her endowment absorption agency, VShojo. Ironmouse is simply a VTuber, oregon “virtual YouTuber” — a benignant of a streamer who doesn’t typically amusement their quality face, alternatively creating elaborate integer personas to make content.

“I precocious recovered retired that for the past mates of months, I person been misled by VShojo,” she said, breathily, successful her video. “I judge that I americium owed a important magnitude of funds which I person not been paid.”

With her pinkish hair, purple eyes, and horns, Ironmouse is 1 of Twitch’s biggest streamers. She presently has implicit 2.3 cardinal followers connected Twitch, and 1.3 cardinal subscribers connected YouTube. In 2023, she won a Game Award for contented creator of the year. A twelvemonth later, she would concisely overtake Kai Cenat arsenic the astir subscribed to Twitch streamer with implicit 300,000 subs. Her VTuber colleagues astatine VShojo person follower counts successful the hundreds of thousands crossed Twitch and YouTube. Now, successful the aftermath of Ironmouse’s video, astir of them person besides discontinue the company, with immoderate of them alleging unpaid wages. 

According to Ironmouse, her occupation with VShojo started with the decision of her 2024 subscription marathon connected Twitch. During the event, Ironmouse raised implicit $500,000 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation, a origin she explained was important to her arsenic she — the existent idiosyncratic down the Ironmouse persona — suffers from communal adaptable immunodeficiency oregon CVID. 

The Verge has reached retired to VShojo, Ironmouse, and the Immune Deficiency Foundation for comment.

“Because the wealth came from my Twitch revenue,” Ironmouse said successful her video, “It required VShojo to marque the donation connected my behalf.” She claims this has not been done and that’s wherefore she’s decided to permission VShojo:

“And astir importantly, the happening that hurts maine the astir is that the Immune Deficiency Foundation, which is the astir important foundation to maine and besides the crushed wherefore I’m present today, is owed implicit fractional a cardinal dollars from Vshojo. […] I truly privation to archer you everything, but unluckily close present I person been instructed by my lawyer to hold for much of the ineligible process to unfold. So 1 time I volition beryllium capable to archer you the afloat story. But for now, I conscionable request to fto you cognize that I volition nary longer beryllium a portion of VShojo.“

“As of close now, I americium an autarkic VTuber,” she said. 

While a creator leaving a endowment bureau is thing new, particularly successful the satellite of VTubers, the scope and standard of this departure has had a superior interaction connected some VShojo and the wider VTuber community. In the hours aft Ironmouse released her video, 12 of the 13 VTubers listed connected VShojo’s website person officially announced they are leaving the company. 

On July 22nd, Kson, a yakuza-themed VTuber with 1.3 cardinal followers connected YouTube, did a livestream successful which she announced she excessively would beryllium leaving the company, besides alleging unpaid funds. 

“And the crushed wherefore is due to the fact that VShojo hasn’t paid a important magnitude of wealth to me,” she said. 

Most of the different members of VShojo, who said they were leaving connected their livestreams and societal media, would not springiness explicit reasons why, suggesting they aren’t capable to owed to ineligible reasons. Nearly each of them expressed heartbreak related to their departure and daze astatine Ironmouse’s treatment.

“Yes, I’m leaving VShojo,” wrote Projekt Melody connected X. “[I] enactment my everything into this comp[any]. But I’m beyond devastated astatine what happened and I ne'er successful a cardinal years thought I’d beryllium saying these words.”

When VShojo was founded successful 2020, it positioned itself arsenic ”talent first” arsenic a mode to differentiate itself from different companies that had reputations for treating endowment poorly. This attracted fashionable VTuber endowment and immense numbers of fans.

VTubers run likewise to Twitch streamers but tin person other expectations and constraints acceptable upon them if they are corporately sponsored by endowment agencies. To recognize VTubers, it’s champion to deliberation of them arsenic integer Japanese popular idols. Almost each facet of a firm VTuber — their sponsorships, societal media accounts, finances, name, and much — is owned and controlled by their agency. In astir circumstances, if a VTuber decides to spell independent, they person to permission each facet of their persona down including each the channels attached to that persona and commencement implicit from scratch. VShojo stood retired arsenic a institution due to the fact that its clients were not beholden to those terms.

“I’m really shocked,” said Biggles, an creator and autarkic Vtuber who told The Verge she’s been a instrumentality of VShojo endowment since the company’s beginning. “VShojo was a imagination for many.” 

Ironmouse’s imagination for the Immune Deficiency Foundation lives connected however. After posting her announcement video arsenic her accustomed persona, she initiated a donation thrust to regenerate the allegedly unpaid funds. Through her community, her erstwhile Vshojo colleagues, and their communities, they’ve raised astir $1 million.