u/mojout

Just some food for thought for the LI mains who are sick of hearing about Valko and just want to continue on playing the game, business as usual.

Let me start by saying I've seen a little bit of fearmongering online that Xavier is in danger since the World Underneath censorship had to do with his storyline. I assure you, there is no real threat to Xavier's character - he's beloved, safe, and not going anywhere. This is more about how the game's landscape has been changed in a way that affects all players, no matter who you main. I also want to just get this out of the way: the game will not EOS any time soon, not even global servers, regardless of fluctuations in revenue.

Here are some important consequences of the whole mess that will have a negative impact on our enjoyment of the game:

A catastrophic blow to morale at Papergames

Now that a terrible precedent has been set, we should all be concerned that the toxic fans can throw a tantrum until they get their way. All LIs are at risk of having new or even preexisting content altered or deleted outright at the whims of the antis. This has been discussed at length already in the community. If something as innocent as an LI jumping onto the balcony asking to be taken in because of his hand wounds can cause such a massive stir that an entire character could be deleted, it really does show that antis can twist anything into "questionable content." If they were provoked into doing so, the antis could probably even get Xavier's Romeo and Juliet card pulled for the same reason.

And now we know the company isn't even willing to defend its own creations. If Xavier's movie card did come under fire, now we know PPG would rather remove it than try to speak up for itself.

What I really want to point out, though, is the precedent that PPG management has set for their development team. The devs/creative team just learned the hard way that a million-dollar project in development for several years can be thrown in the trash in an instant for no good reason. Can you imagine working at the company now, knowing this? A precedent has been set that upper management does not have developers' backs. If you've ever had the misfortune of working a job where you felt like your management could throw you under the bus any second, you know that atmosphere is no longer conducive to high-quality work - this kind of environment saps every single person's passion for the job until they have nothing left to give.

The general consensus is that 6.0 update is buggy as hell because devs had to hurriedly scrub Valko's content to meet the release deadline. But let's also keep in mind that the team probably feels overworked, under-appreciated, and even having their lives threatened by masses of mentally unstable fans. PPG is typically known for having very polished products, but I think we can and SHOULD expect a massive dip in quality in the coming years. The behind-the-scenes chaos will begin to spill into the game itself - it's already started.

I really cannot emphasize enough the negative impact this will have on future main story updates, myths and memoria cards, and even technical aspects of the game. Writing quality will continue to decline, which we've already been seeing. We're going to see less spice. Claims that existing spice cards have been censored have been debunked, with these isues being chalked up to bugs, but it's still reasonable to assume PPG is going to play it extremely safe from now on.

PPG has really been pushing the boundaries of what they're allowed to show, which I have had massive respect for. Lingering Lust was genius - they were SO careful to depict everything in a way that could give them plausible deniability while maximizing spice. The stick figure marketing was one of the funniest and most creative strategies I've seen in recent years. Now that they're under a microscope for the foreseeable future, I really don't expect to see anything else like this for a long, long, long time (which is really disappointing, because Xavie eating kitty is literally one of my favorite things in the entire world). I'm sure the only reason they were even willing to take these risks in the first place was because they were passionate about their projects, which just won't be the same anymore.

Basically, say goodbye to the ingenuity that made LADS so special to us. Creatives at PPG have been screwed over by their upper management and their own fanbase - they owe us nothing anymore.

Papergames may stop investing as much in LADS and may prioritize development of new projects

So, cancelling Valko is one thing, but why in the world did the announcement "commit that there will be no new love interests"?

This is a really bad sign for how PPG management views the future of LADS.

Maybe they just really have everything closely mapped out for the rest of the game's lifespan and are confident that they can keep putting out years worth of exciting content for current LIs, but I highly doubt it.

In an interview earlier this year, the game's creative director Lizi Cheng stated that PPG expects LADS to continue on for as long as their other IPs - ML:QC and the Nikki series have been going on for 9 and 14 years, respectively. Here is a link to the interview, which is worth a read (Lizi also talks about how they're prioritizing more VR/AR aspects of the game.......yay......)

It's only 2 years into LADS lifespan. If PPG can confidently say that no other LIs will be introduced, then I personally think that shows PPG's lack of belief in the game's longevity. Why were they so willing to even put themselves into a creative box like that in the first place? I can't see how that bodes well for the future of the game at all. As much as I love Xavier, I've literally already married him and the game only launched in 2024. What's next?? Wedding anniversary banners?? For 8-10 more years?????

PPG (technically their subsidiary Infold) already has one new AAA title in development called "The Perceiver," which makes me wonder if this entire mess has made them rethink investing in LADS long-term. I could see from a business perspective how it would be beneficial to keep LADS palatable and under the radar to keep a steady stream of revenue to put towards development of their new project (I still think without Valko, or any new LIs, their revenue will never be the same, but will stay steady enough to maintain the game at a baseline for years). This is just my guess.

Interestingly, Infold also has some job listings up for "a new AAA" game on their website - not sure if this is also for The Perceiver or an entirely new project.

Also, with SW hitting the market next year along with other competing 3D otome games that will inevitably launch in the coming years, this statement from them feels like the equivalent of flopping over belly up in submission to competition. Does PPG actually think the same fluffy banners year after year can compete with new games introducing completely new LIs and stories?

Seriously, why are they always so dead set on acting against their best interests.........

Production capacity will inevitably decrease

Loss in revenue hurts us all. Coupled with the factors mentioned above, losses in revenue that have already occurred and losses yet to come are going to severely hinder production capacity at PPG. Production capacity at PPG has long been a concern, way back before we even knew Valko existed. This is one of the reasons antis were freaking out so much about Valko - resources for their own LI would now be going to a new LI that they thought was too dark, ugly, and "western."

Can I also just point out the fallacy in their logic here? Sorry girlies, but the money you put into the game has already been put towards Valko's development. He's been in development for years. The money that we've been putting into the game thinking it was only going towards further development of our LIs has also been going to the development of a new LI this entire time. All of that money has now been WASTED. At the very very least, Valko's introduction would've provided more farming opportunities and would've avoided changes to the main story that will require even more time and money.

Then again, if the antis really are minors as suspected, I wouldn't expect them to have this level of critical thinking anyway.

So, now we have to bear the consequences of PPG having to recuperate sunk costs. We'll see the effects of cutting corners, possible decrease in staffing, and investors abandoning the game. I would not be surprised to see a rise in prices, a continuation of the dia farming drought, and honestly a secret drop in pull rates too.

Actually, LADS hasn't been doing well for a while. This website shows historical revenue across all regions, and you can clearly see how their numbers have been flopping this entire year compared to last year. They really cannot afford the mass exodus of players that is happening right now.

I do think new myths will help supplement some of the loss and get them back on track, but I'm confident they will never experience the kind of long-term growth they were hoping for now that they've alienated so many fans and scared away new players. Great job, Inflop!!!!

The main story is broken

It seems like Valko was the final piece of the puzzle, at least for this story arc. All signs point to the initial intent being for 6 LIs, so we can assume the entire main story up until now has accounted for his existence and eventual introduction. There are still SO many unanswered questions with the main story and it's truly confusing as fuck. I'm guessing Valko's introduction would've answered a lot of those questions, and his storyline would've been tied in with other LIs due to his close association with EVER, since all current LIs are in conflicts with EVER.

Now that PPG has already promised to release Caleb's story update in September, they have once again pushed themselves into a corner with such a short turnaround time to make changes. Not only will the September update be a total mess, but we'll never get to see the original direction of the story, and that's a shame. We'll be stuck with whatever half-baked backup story they can come up with, and it'll probably make even less sense than what we've already seen. It's going to hurt the entire narrative as a whole.

I've seen people say Valko could be added as an NPC only, but it seems the Valko controversy lies with Valko's very existence as a character - LI or not. If you've seen the Chinese anti-Valko posts, they're calling for ALL content related to Ao Yin to be deleted - not just him as an LI. They don't want to see him in the game, period. If PPG put Valko in as an NPC only, it wouldn't make sense because they'd still be risking the backlash but without the revenue they'd get from him being an actual LI. The risk would massively outweigh the benefit.

I also want to address the concerns about Valko being introduced before Caleb and Sylus' story updates, because these are valid concerns and I also had the same knee-jerk reaction when I first found out about Valko's introduction. Now, I really do think that Valko's chapters would've been necessary to be released first to set up the continuation of Caleb and Sylus' stories. This is the only explanation that makes sense for why they waited so long to update Caleb and Sylus' stories - they were waiting for the right time to launch Valko.

Ultimately, it's a failing of PPG that they set up the story that way though. They should've seen the backlash coming. If my hunch about the chapter sequence is right, then I also blame PPG for not making it clear in an announcement that Valko needed to be introduced to set up the continuation of Caleb and Sylus' storylines. This would've calmed a lot of (reasonable) fans.

PPG demonstrated global is not a priority

I keep seeing "PPG only cares about CN and JP because they're the only ones who got announcements recently." This was only because they were cancelling events. No one has actually received any kind of follow-up regarding the Valko controversy post-cancellation announcement. So, I don't think that in particular is sufficient evidence that PPG doesn't care about global.

In regards to the current situation, I think the biggest slap in the face to global is that Valko was abruptly cancelled with virtually no explanation. Not delayed, not postponed indefinitely - the character intended to appeal to western audiences was cancelled without a clear reason as to why, and the western fanbase has been especially left in the dark.

The Chinese fanbase knows what's actually happening - they can see PPG's name being dragged through the mud on their news and have an awareness of how Valko was miscontrued as anti-CN. They have reasons to suspect PPG having its hand forced by the CCP and media.

Global players have no context unless they actually look into it themselves. The cancellation announcement was vague, and there was no in-game announcement. Many casual players are only just finding out what's going on from community members, and many still don't even know he was cancelled.

We still don't know to what extent PPG is having to deal with the CCP, but it's still clear to me that their decisions were made with no consideration for their global fanbase. The choice to pull Valko was PPG's own, despite them knowing how much global has been anticipating Valko. It was a cowardly move done to appease a portion of the Chinese audience, all at the expense of global players.

As a global player who's poured countless time and money into this game, I feel so incredibly disrespected and unseen.

Valko will forever haunt the narrative

The LADS community has never exactly been the most welcoming group, but now, holy shit. It's in utter shambles. The infighting right now is crazy and truly unlike anything I've ever seen in a fandom, which is saying a lot as someone who's been on Tumblr since 2011. There is going to be a long period where the "wolf pack" and current mains are pitted against each other and you will see this in every LADS space for the months to come, if not years.

If you're someone who likes to peruse LADS fan content on the internet, go to LADS events, or really participate in the community in any way, you will be inundated with Valko for the forseeable future. Ironically, his lack of presence in the game will be compensated for by the explosion of fan content we're already seeing. He's become the most popular LI, and it'll die out eventually, but if you're sick of hearing about him now, you better get ready for the long haul.

We'll also see Valko's content be awkwardly redistributed to the other LIs. The in-game poses that were really meant for Valko and MC look so weird with the other LIs, and the home interaction where the LIs sniff the plushies is......so weird. I'm sure we'll see more of this kind of stuff in the future as well.

The immersion has been shattered

This is just my feeling, but I've seen others mirror this sentiment: personally, I can't look at Xavier the same way after Valko's cancellation. It feels like the immersion has been completely destroyed, like I'm looking purely at lines of code that could be deleted at any second for reasons far beyond my control. It feels weird to even interact with them, with them saying the same cheerful things, as if everything in-game is ok, but it's not. It's too...uncanny.

I've uninstalled the game and will only be back if Valko returns. I wasn't originally planning to pull for him at all - I already have my hands full w/ Xavier and my #2 and #3 boys as well - but I can't help but feel so sorry for Valko and his creators that it's made me really care about him and want to root for his return. Even if he's not real, he's become a martyr. My heart breaks to see a character - one obviously meticulously crafted with so much thought and love by a hugely talented group of people - completely torn apart by the media and bad actors, and no one from PPG even willing to defend him.

The bottom line for me is that I can't in good faith support a company that would throw its own creative team under the bus like this. I feel they've been immensely disrespected, and we as players have been disrespected too. The whole situation makes me sick. I refuse to be associated with a company that operates like that.

If you're at all on the fence about boycotting, I'd really encourage you to join those of us who are. Like him or not, without the sixth LI, I truly believe the game is essentially ruined for all of us.

Update wiped almost all of my Rafayel pics 🫩

The only traces of Xav left on my phone after the update wiped my photo album ;_;

Did anyone clock that they actually made Xavier's cafe plushie question into the real thing

Why Valko’s cancellation hurts us Xavier mains as well

This might be a deep cut but I finally clocked who Valko reminds me of

Did anyone else spruce up their profile for Caleb's birthday? 🧡🍎💙

Are Caleb and MC the only couple who actually call each other their boyfriend/girlfriend?

Omggg she's matching his freak

"Dear partner in life" is SO sweet I'm swooning