The comiket issue is they pretty much wanted to enter comiket as a private booth but you're not allowed to do that as a company you need to have a corporate booth instead so now they went “whoops sorry gonna delete all traces of the circle on our twitter now plz let us in c105 ty” trying to backpedal saying Kuronezumi(circle) isn't related to to their company at all
@@Locus_聖園ミカ Yea the whole Comiket issue was a strange one too. Initially I had a full 10 minute segment edited for that but I cut it out in the end since it's more speculative overall and I didn't wanna go in that direction. But the iffy thing is that doujin booths especially for original games are kinda iffy in the sense that you can b a registered firm and still get a booth kinda like what WSS playground did around C99-100 as indie devs but then it'd go into the whole vague speculation of what counts as indie which the comiket committee is a nebulous entity that runs on vibes so it's hard to say. It would've been interesting to watch them try and see what the committee would actually say tho if only for the morbid curiousity of seeing what precedence the Comiket committe would set with their decision
@@overworkedsalaryman And the way they handled their apology are very weird and poorly worded apparently, making it awkward to the jp people. And they didn't even bother to pin it and proceed to bury it by reposting fanarts, making jp think they're not sincere with their apology. All I know for sure is that they sure love to step on every landmines(controversy) they possibly can lol
Seems like big self-inflicted wounds that could have been avoided if: 1. They waited some more time before releasing any major teasers. Regardless of what actually happened in reality, it certainly comes off looking like they were working on this material while still employed at Nexon. 2. Did the girls REALLY need halos? The way I see it, you can either “copy” the general setting/themes and ditch the halos, or you can “copy” the halos but take the story in a completely different direction. Even if they’re *legally* in the clear, it’s wild that these industry professionals with combined decades of experience seemingly didn’t take even a minute to consider how their actions may look to the audience they want to court. I think their promo material focusing on all the aspects that are *similar* to Blue Archive kind of sealed its fate. Even if the story ends up being better than Blue Archive and the gameplay turns out to be something entirely different, first impressions are very important and it’ll be very hard to shake off the stink of being a copycat.
Yea it does feel like a lot what they did marketing wise ended up backfiring in really weird ways which is weird considering that the JP side director joined to lead their project. The things you mentioned, the Comiket circle name, the machine-translated Japanese apology over how they registered for Comiket which was also weird because they registered as individuals instead of as a corporation for it. Tbh if they didn't do all of that things prolly would've played out very differently imo
Please explain what is wrong with them working on their own stuff while being employed somewhere? If I work full time and then decide I want to start my own business, I am not allowed to work on my projects while still working? Do I have to quit first and then start working on it? Such stupid mentality.
@@overworkedsalaryman yeah. The way it was handled is just so baffling to me. It’s not like Blue Archive is a dying IP on its last legs, with the fandom desperate to find something similar to cling onto after a rapidly imminent EOS…. It’s literally as popular as it’s ever been. I’m trying to see things from their perspective and nothing makes sense to me. - Assuming there was nothing untoward happening behind the scenes, they’re sure doing a great job of making it look like some untoward stuff happened behind the scenes. - Assuming there WAS some drama going on behind the scenes, surely they would do their marketing in such a way to hide that as best as possible, *in their own best interest*? I genuinely don’t understand what they were expecting to happen. This situation just feels so predictable, I’m just some random guy on the Internet and I feel like I could’ve done the marketing better than them.
@@sssspider Yea especially considering the people involved in this it just feels so bizarre that it was handled in such a manner since even with BA they made Japan their first market. They should've known the market well enough to not mishandle it in such a way and considering they're vets in the kr industry I feel like the same could be said for their handling of that like how'd they let it get to this point
I've been really invested into this controversy when Project KV announced on day 1 because I am deeply passionate about Blue Archive. When I initially heard about the release of Project KV, I was like "ah, isakusan is pursuing creative freedom and wants to do his own thing, good for him. Why are people so mad? He shouldn't have to be tied down to a company and one game for the rest of his life." Part of me wishes I never looked into the controversy and just be the guy that says "Wow, we get to eat 2 cakes!" Unfortunately, ignorance isn't something I can feign, especially if it involves Blue Archive. It is indeed really different when WuWa is like Genshin and when Project KV is like BA. The people involved and the coincidences are too many to ignore... The most gut wrenching and saddest part for me is indeed the drop in quality for Blue Archive. Global might not feel it yet since we just had Dress Hina event a month ago... but it really is telling when the art quality of Marina (Qipao) feels so lackluster compared to the art of that other character in Project KV. I can't wait to read the plot holes that people mentioned for Volume 1 Chapter 3 when it fully releases. My only true hope and prayer is that Blue Archive does recover from the quality drop and continues being a successful, cute, and funny game. Hiring new staff isn't cheap, and getting them up to speed with how things work isn't an easy task either, so I don't expect the recovery to be quick. Hopefully Kim Yongha and his team can manage... If Project KV is revealed to be built on good intentions, it will be a successful game, and I will play the game without any ill thoughts. If Project KV truly was made with malicious intent, then I also wish this game never sees the light of day, as the Google Doc author wishes (he wished for death but I don't like to be in the extremes lol). Anyway, thanks for shedding some light on this Mr. Salaryman! I hope we all get to eat 2 cakes...
Yea, I do hope that Kim Yongha is doing alright. If I recall he and some of the people who left worked fairly close together even before BA so this might've ended up being quite a hit for him generally. That said, hopefully they manage to bounce back since it does sound like they lost a fair bit of power in this situation. As for me personally I wouldn't wish death or failure on any game (even concord as much as it pains me to say) because my belief is that every game in the world prolly brings joy to someone somewhere in the world and might very well be the one light they have in life so whatever my feelings on the games individually are I would rather see all titles succeed. Obviously that's quite wishful thinking but hopefully we might see a day where get cleared up between the two companies and we see things go in a more positive direction in the future. But yea the controversy this time does feel a lil wild. Personally I'm of the camp that people shouldn't be tied to working on the same live-service game unwillingly. In the industry people usually say that a person stops growing after working on a liveops title for more than 1.5 years so I can imagine staff rotations being something that most teams would factor in and wouldn't hold it against people who want to leave in a usual case but yea this situation does feel very different in a kinda negative way.
@@overworkedsalaryman I mostly go by intention. I do agree that games like Concord, while as bad as it was, still brought fun for the 200+ (maybe more) people that were playing it daily, and if money was no constraint, it would've been fine existing (possibly even have something for private servers or such, as game preservation is something I advocate for). I will say am extremely biased since I love Blue Archive, yet Project KV situation just feels different... I can feel that Isakusan and team definitely poured their love into Project KV as well, since the quality is really good. However, I personally cannot support something that was done with bad intentions, as people are hurt along the way... Would it be okay to hurt a few people in order to make a few others happy? No need to answer that question though (unless you want to), would be getting a bit philosophical hahaha And yes, I also agree that no one should be stuck with one company forever. I myself jump around jobs and never stay loyal to one corporation, but I never let the quality of my work drop or sabotage anything along the way... Of course, everything is speculation and rumors, but assuming isakusan and team had bad intentions, I would not support those kinds of actions... and thus my desire to wish Project KV doesn't see the light. I am just hoping at the end of it all, there were no bad intentions done. I do not hate Project KV because we have no solid confirmation on the intentions of the team, and blind hate is just dumb. I deeply wish that Project KV was done with good intentions, and if so, it will have my support too because we need more cute and funny games!
Not just Qipao Marina, it goes back further. Band event was the first time I noticed the drop in art quality (Band Kazusa chibi, promo art and ingame art not matching - flat or not flat?). V1C3 story is flawed, and it took FOREVER to release. Fury of Set came out months before it was actually seen in the story. The anime might be a factor for the delay, but half a year? The last half of the year has not been good for BA JP, and if it's indeed caused by internal strife that would be quite disappointing.
I feel like the reasonable explanation for the drop in quality simply is that in the last weeks their hearts weren't in blue archive, and they were already thinking about Project KV. BTW, the term corporate sabotage refers to sabotage/manipulation by a company, not to internal company conflicts.
With how things have gone now it feels like it points even more in that situation if anything. Also thanks for the English correction. That I did not know so it's good you pointed it ou m(_ _)m
It's a good doc I read through all of it. Even the funny bits that were in a language that I didn't understand that hopefully google didn't trick me into thinking means something else with their funny translate. I rlly hope more people read it because it is a lot more comprehensive than anything I could try to dig up myself about the situation. Tbh there was 10 minutes on Comiket I deleted from this video but one thing I wanted to point out is that the reason why buyer and seller isn't used is also because of the legal grey area that the event is in with the IPs being the way they are and all that. It isn't spoken about as much but that's a thing. Also this is just a suggestion but aside from Type-moon, smaller scale VN companies like frontwing might be a good example of game companies that should be a reason why Dynamis One should've taken a corporate booth since they are prolly closer in scale and size as they are a VN exclusive company with 40 employees that doesn't hold on to a pre-existing massive IP though that's just my opinion. Either way the document was a very good read. 🙏 If you ever need any help with finding even more JP side info do feel free to reach out
@@overworkedsalaryman I made this specifically because the KR EN translator just sucks horribly even with all the tech advancements cuz there's just so much slang and shortening of words (think "blue archive" being referred to in Korea as "블아" which is just the first word each from 블루 아카이브 (Blue Archive) that the translator just can't keep up most of the JP side stuff comes over from people who look at places like 5ch or Japanese twitter on the korean forums then repost it w/TLs (either via MTL or doing it themselves) but if I do need more information I'll reach out hope the document helped, added more information to it just now cuz there were some major events today addendum: the comiket part "irking Japanese people involved in (comiket)" mostly comes from the Korean view of it (Comiket being as large as it is but operating under that kind of ethos being a sort of proud point of the event) but if it's different in Japan or if that's incorrect that'd be interesting to know about
@@stellasolaris Yea I just heard about the new information that came out today. Sounds like things are prolly gonna still be pretty busy for you as a result so good luck. o7 Either way I'm thankful that you did translate all of that information and collate it though as it certainly helps to provide a more complete picture for everyone outside on the situation for sure. Even searching for their company registration was a hellish experience for me so I can only imagine how tough it would've otherwise been to research all of this had you not made the doc. For the Comiket side of things I do know some people who are mad about it though idk how big of a proportion that actually is as of yet. At this point I'm interested in seeing how the Comiket committee handles it since afaik they like to work off of vibes but depending on how they rule on this it could set a precedence that might cause them to lose a fair amount of money overall since it might give smaller JP companies the idea to also start applying doujin too. That said there is precedence of companies like WSS playground which are more indie but still incorporated actually getting doujin booth space as well so right now it's anyones guess how they'll react. The issue is more of there's some level of disconnect between the operating committee and the attendees of Comiket such as how overnight queues are banned but also used to be managed covertly by the committee etc so while there are people who feel proud of what the event stands for there are also a decent number of people who attend it that have very differing opinions on the event who might be quite apathetic to the current situation with KV.
@overworkedsalaryman I actually finished editing it a bit earlier, time to go to bed Speaking of I forgot to add the part about Dynamis One not even having a corporate license(?) / registration in Japan (they only have one in Korea) which is stupid considering they were aiming for JP service, should add that tomorrow
It sucks that B.A. lost its main team, cause i really wanted to see the Decagrammaton story development and stuff, i hope that Nexon manage to handle the story well without Ikusan. Said that, i really hope the situation works well for both party and none of the games die. I heard rumors that Nexon was cutting B.A. budget and that i why they left, but that doesn happens to be the case if what you said is accurate, but, as that circle's name implies, SOMETHING must have happened between the devs and the company, because you cant come with a name like that unless you are seeking revenge. Ok, i admit, i really liked their circle's name.
Yea especially since with BA the story is a big part of the game it does feel like it'll take a lil while for them to regain some footing on that end. That said, hopefully whatever happens the two sides can come to some sort of agreement so things don't have to escalate more. Tbh I'm more worried for the people in the KR game industry generally since there's already fear coming up that the companies are going to clamp down on their staff even more in the future because of this situation.
Life is tough in the gacha space. Especially in this day and age. All I have to say is, I hope the day comes where Japan pays their staff compensation as big as KR and CN do cuz god that'd prolly help the people on the grounds a lot more.
You are not bad at video editing. You are actually the most humble human being I have ever watched on RU-vid. As for the concept of the video, yeah pretty much that happens with every big IP. Monetization is always the motive behind every move of theirs.
@@rxlrealms Glad to hear that my weird editing isn't too shabby XD. Th recent other videos I got help editing looked so good I had begun questioning my own editing skills lol since this one was fully me especially. But yea it's sad to see even knowing that monetisation is the big moving factor for them. This might just be me being naive but as I always say to my colleagues, I wanna make fun content first, games or otherwise, since if entertainment isn't entertaining then it isn't worth making. Though that was what burnt me out on mobile game dev as well a few years back so what do I know 🤣
@@overworkedsalaryman All corporate moves for all IPS especially many in the western world are almost the same. For example Plarium for Mech Arena has also controversial practices. They use content creators specifically influencers in partnership programs as AI voiced salesmen to promote item being defined as game's meta. Players blindly believe those influencers due of their popularity and subscriber number on social media like RU-vid. Once you purchase the item the official content creators recommended, you are being matched in matchmaking system against bots with stronger equipment than your own. If you lose said number of matches, you will be spammed with pop-ups to better your hangar. If you do that you will go in the same loop again with matchmaking system in every single match without any tolerance to even grind as F2P. Next, plarium de-value your purchased equipment like mech or weapon with huge nerf in balance patches forcing players to replicate the items they lost their value for. Players are then purchasing this weapon or mech plarium has newly released and it is just nothing but almost identical design but with higher base stats and different color or light effects. All over again until they nerf that item as well.
@@overworkedsalaryman All corporate moves for all IPS especially many in the western world are almost the same. For example Plarium for Mech Arena has also controversial practices. They use content creators specifically influencers in partnership programs as AI voiced salesmen to promote item being defined as game's meta. Players blindly believe those influencers due of their popularity and subscriber number on social media. Once you purchase the item the official content creators recommended, you are being matched in matchmaking system against bots with stronger equipment than your own. If you lose said number of matches, you will be spammed with pop-ups to to better your hangar. If you do that you will go in the same loop again with matchmaking system in every single match without any tolerance to even grind as F2P. Next, plarium de-value your purchased equipment like mech or weapon with huge nerf in balance patches forcing players to replicate the items they lost their value for. Players are then purchasing this weapon or mech plarium has newly released and it is just nothing but almost identical design but with higher base stats and different color or light effects. All over again until they nerf that item as well.
To summarize: BA is going to lose art quality and writing quality inorder to have more substantial content updates and remain f2p friendly While Project KV is going to try and milk dime nickel and fuck it's players wallets while capitalizing on better writing and art lost from BA. NGL sounds like I'm better off staying with BA and not giving KV the time of day tbh. A big thing for me when it comes to gachas is it needs to be accessible whether I whale or not, sometimes I want to whale sometimes I don't so if KV is just as pathetic and worthless as genshit is I'm not exactly wanting to support a good writer and artist I didn't whale on FGO until 4 yrs into their redemption arc after consistent and continuous improvements on all aspects of the game Nasu alone wasn't enough to make me want to whale, I needed quality and generosity, now I actively spend money on FGO when I want to cuz they're worth supporting. I haven't given genshit money in years and I probably never will again cuz not even Natlan can save that trash game at this point. Vote with your wallet
Kinda nice to see that they finally added a spark for FGO too. It came late but it's nice to see that bit by bit as competition increasesd they have started to improve the game more too as well
And if this were the case then all the reporting on him trying to get people to quit based on compensation issues likely wouldn't have been as much of a thing either it feels like
They stepped on too many landmines, ending up displeasing a lot of their intended audience on top of the other already existing issues (from the poaching attempts to the comiket issue). Overall its a lose-lose scenario considering everything that had happened. Subbed.
Yea it's really sad that it had to end up in a lose-lose tbh. Whichever side anyone stood on this issue initially, I'm sure most people would've hoped for a win-win I'd feel so this does feel a lil empty. That said, thanks for watching and for the sub
From their corporate registration in Korea it seems like it will eventually be one though whether that will be at Comiket or not is another thing I feel like. I don't think they'll risk taking a doujin booth to hawk a mobile game so it'll prolly be a VN or goods there but in the future it might be. Though we really will have to wait and see what it ends up being
Thank you for the video, So sad that this had to happen to Blue Archive and Project KV. Also, Nexon has already been making strides in fixing its image and giving us good games besides B.A. Hopefully we get a good resolution to this entire controversy
Yea I saw the thing with mintrocket as well where it seems like they are trying to be more dev friendly by allowing more devs going forward to split off as independents while still funding them where necessary which feels like a step in the right direction at least. That said yea it is quite sad that this issue had to pop up though... looking at the thing with mintrocket it does make it feel like going to the lengths that they did may not have been that neccessary if they had waited a lil longer
This feels like a another case of Named Dev Ego Syndrome that a lot devs have when they leave or get let go of a company. They are so blindly confident that because they were a head writer or director of successful franchise that they can replicate that success independently from their time working in their previous projects. The issue is a lot the time that this happens, most developers don't have the experience in the corporate field or in the case of Project KV rush a project into development for the sake competing with their previous project that got their name in the map and know how well that went with other developers like Keiji Inafune and Mighty No.9 or Glen Schofield and The Callisto Protocol.
With all the information that has been coming out since then it certainly does have that vibe to it more so than ever before. Of course we don't know how true that info is but if whistleblowers in the company are coming out to say it, we're prolly as close as it gets rn. Like how they mentioned that because the top management had good Japanese skills they didn't hire a proper Japanese translator to handle the business Japanese side of stuff which is a completely different beast and it led to that Comiket debacle
@@overworkedsalaryman It does feel that they also didn't have PR person for a lot of the controversies which would've help the keeping the situation from blowing up like it did, But it is too late for that considering Project KV got canceled.
@@insertname1786 Yea... if anything it feels like it might've gone a long way to helping figure out the next best move if they had one but now that it's reached this point, we can only hope they learn from this and move on
Yea, it's quite unfortunate for the creators who didn't even get to have their works shown yet. Heard from within JP as well that they had hired some writers and artists to assist with the prep run towards this and a lot of that won't ever make the light of day now
It hasn't been a day, and now Project KV has been cancelled. You just can't write scripts like this, even if you try. I guess all of the artwork from the prpject (characters, setting etc.) bas been put on the back bunner for now. I just hope it doesn't become lost media.
I can assure you I had nothing to do with it though maybe the whistleblower that came out yesterday might've. It's a shame that it had to go like this though ... now we'll never get to know what actually went on since it'll go quiet for the near future it feels like
@@overworkedsalarymanI have something to say, though. Dynamis One did it to themselves. They underestimated how powerful the backlash can be the moment they created something strikingly similar to the other work they used to create and build. And when the controversy blew up, they went silent hoping it would die down. Now, it has gotten to this point where Project KV can't continue in its current state. The only good thing about this whole fiasco is that hopefully Dynamis One has learnt their lessons and come up with a new project that won't attract unwanted attention.
Sounds to me like the key personel that left the company didn't like it, despite being paid much, and went to start on their own. Money isn't everything when it comes to liking their workplace.
That's fair yea I agree with that. There might be other reasons too which is why I feel like the attacks on the involved people on Twitter and the like are quite unwarranted since we don't know what their side of the story is either. Though that said, them using money as the argument point to then get people to quit does feel kinda low as a result in this situation at least. If they had used their dissatisfaction with the direction of the game or their desire to start something completely new as the justification to convince others to leave I feel like I'd be more able to agree with their methods to convince people to leave but the way that they did it does feel a lil dishonest. Of course one could also say that all is fair in the world of business and that's kinda true as well. All I know is god I wish someone would pay me that much too
Honestly, even if it was money I would be fine with it. If they were in it for the money and stayed at the company they probably weren't going to make good work anyways, and now that they are releasing their own product they will need to sell it based off its quality.
I've heard way too much rumormongering about this situation, and to me, it seems like it's more due to human desire to gossip than any tangible wrongdoing. I'd think nexon would act if there was something worth responding to.
I agree that Nexon prolly will if there is anything. Though if they do it'll prolly wouldn't be in this short a term either and not in the open. If there's one thing working with Japanese game companies has taught me at least it's that getting legal teams to assess situations properly takes time and typically the initial actions will be directly with the company in question if anything so either way we prolly won't see anything bubble to the surface unless things go very south for both parties so mostly we're just going to see mostly rumors and conjectures going around for awhile more. Which is why I feel like the brigading and fighting that is going on now on places like Twitter is pretty unwarranted since some of the people involved directly in the situation are getting attacked online in ways that feel unnecessary. If anything it feels like people should feel free to keep abreast with the info of the issue if they want but regardless of their opinions on it they definetly shouldn't go taking action on their own. That should be someting for Nexon and Dynamis One to settle amongst themselves.
Yes. If there was actually any wrong doing instead of just a bunch of people spreading rumours and guesses. You bet all these people would be hit with a lawsuit or threatened with jail time. Mitsukiyo was directly involved with Dynamis One and his relationship with Nexon is still intact and he still their music director as he said in his twitter. KR gaming sphere already had too many example of Ex-devs leaving to work on their own project just to get hunt down by their prior company and put behind bars with the smallest investigation. And their "educated guess" is always "He builded it quickly". The problem lies with lack of education in the matter, when small corporations and independant development don't have to go through 90% of the procedures of a big company hence why it's faster. Greg Street (Ghost Crawler) said himself that he left his company because you have less hurdles when your project doesn't need to go past 20+ people. The project just got cancelled, if they're still together in the next weeks or months and even announce a new project without Nexon going after their asses. It'll just mean that KR and schizo BA fans doomposted and though they were detectives when they just acted like those people who gossips about celebrities.
For what it's worth as someone who only "knows" Japanese because of anime, manga and games I did get and laughed at the kawa joke. I'm hoping it really is just coincidences on top of coincidences and that this'll just be a future healthy competition for BA... That hopium is honestly very thin though. Ironically the main thing I enjoyed with the teaser video they posted is the Shaft style and not really the things that are similar to BA... Lastly if this does end up as just multi layered coincidence there's an additional hope for Toji no Miko collab.
I'm glad the joke was not completely lost on that one since it felt like a really bad joke after I wrote it lol XD Yea the teaser video was really stylised which was pretty cool tbh. If the rumours are true and they really took a year with all of this prep then it really shows with that trailer. I mean considering that the producer of BA (current) and some of the KV members used to be really close prior to this issue popping up I do hope too that eventually all of this is something that they can mend more so for their sanity as well if anything. Must feel rough having to be in the middle of this issue as it is now... A Toji no Miko collab would be cool though XD That series rlly needs more love
>healthy competition That idea is kind of dead in the water and IMO, pretty delusional, seeing as DynamisOne has already directly harmed BA by poaching staff members and being developed "on the side" while at Nexon
I think a storm is coming last time it happened in Korea a whole company got shut down which used regulated the whole korean games rating system and people got fired left and right. Oh boy this one gonna be bad.
Considering mainstream media is picking up on this situation it does certainly feel like this could lead in very worrying directions for the industry as a whole. Here's hoping it doesn't go too badly though.
Think this is a situation like Dark and Darker and P3? since it's nexon too. Would be funny as heck, but I have mixed feelings if this means BA is deteriorating...
With dark and darker it's a lil of a mixed issue as well since it seems like at least in Korea opinions eventually flipped on the Dark and Darker team as more information came to light though I'd prolly have to do more research before I can say any more on the issue with that. Right now we haven't seen it hit that point yet but it seems more the reverse in that general opinion over in kr seems to be more in favor of Nexon for once which is kinda funny because of the fact that it's Nexon in a way. But yea... hope things don't get worse for BA...
@@robin-sempai1756 That's fair. I feel like no matter which side of the situation someone is on everyonn just wishes that we could just have two cakes too
Not true, crazy koreans and BA schizo were actually sabotaging the ex-BA devs, there is multiple posts on KR social media explicit saying they want it to end to the point of creating Futa fanart so people who were interested in it to hate instead. Plus a lot of people who are covering this issue are insanely biased and without proper knowledge of corporations. Even this one where they say that devs got more pay than a CEO, assuming that they always should be getting the highest paycheck when that's not how it works. Companies prioritize investments first. Nexon is a open traded company you can check their investors report and see every report of profits, plans of investments and projects for the fiscal year and the next years. The other big problem is that big bonuses and pay checks like these happens after negotiations and talks with the employee to keep them in the company. And that also goes straight against the narrative that they had a big grudge against Nexon when they got paid pretty well for it. Plus the circle name being them admiting that they wanted to sabotage Nexon when Mitsukiyo was a part of it and is still working on BA is very contradictory. There is so much bias happening here and a lot of uneducated guesses and kids tamtrum.
What the Korean see is that DOne is going to destroy the BA cake to make KV cake, so it's going to be down to just one cake. Different view from different market, I suppose.
Tbh I'm surprised we haven't gotten a game anywhere close to that since that one game from er.... dang I feel like it's almost 7 years ago or more back where there were characters that were all based off of katanas... I don't remember the name of it anymore but it would be cool if there was a game like that but for swords or just weapons from all around the world
The project is cancelled and backstage drama is going on a whole new level. Multiple media coverage is happening. The culprits' very recent doing don't even look professional at all in this point.
@@overworkedsalaryman Yeah this ended up in a sad mood. Even stuff like _several Elsword arts were traced or Ctrl CV'd_ showing up. Gamers and fans associated with older Nexon games and several Webtoon manhwas are coming up with KV peoples' doing. Oh well, this could've been worse if they planned this more thoroughly and made an actual lose-lose situation with BA. Thankfully current new(?) staff are doing quite well.
That part I can't understand tbh and I find the hate quite unwarranted. It's one thing for people to be unhappy with the situation surrounding the background of the game's development but to actively hate on the art itself when the art isn't even bad goes too far imo. Especially when it feels like there are people even going online to brigade the artist over the art that's too much. Particularly when the information out there isn't even concrete yet but looking at things even if it does get that way the artists do seem more innocent in all of this. Hopefully all of it gets resolved quickly 🙏
@@overworkedsalaryman this should be an exemplary case for those who defend AI. Their favourite argument is that AI does just the same thing as an artist. No, it does not. AI is hated because it is plagiarism, the KV artists are getting the same hate because they are doing the same thing that AI is hated for: plagiarising. IMO the hate is justified.
@@nomado-sensei science and knowledge is built on top of each other, if science is plagiarism, then I guess I'm gonna start to openly support plagiarism. And no, people can't read others' thought, "intent" is whatever people in charge subjectively define, thus should be disregarded unless explicitly stated.
@@nomado-sensei The thing is, companies are brutal. Remember that South Korea is rated the WORST of first world country for a massive wealth gap reason. I don't support plagiarism, but until there is conclusive report that Nexon isn't actively screwing up their employee - especially when some people are also following isakusan - and even mind bogglingly mitsukiyo also reported being underpaid - I wouldn't mix corporate hostaging to plagiarism. For all we know, there is a possibility that Nexon cornered people except isakusan and the director to be paid dirt cheap because Nexon is broiled in other controversy in the span of BA's development like the Maple Story Rigged Gacha scandal, meaning they are willing to scam their customers and doesn't treat people as business partners. Let the fellow artists decide which is AI and not. Because in this case context can change the resolve of the matter drastically. Isakusan and co. did some insanely risky move, but Nexon never absolved themselves of their old wrongdoings either.
@@defaulted9485 Mitsukiyo is a freelance composer. He/she (or even them, since there might be several people behind it) is not on a payroll, thus cannot be underpaid.
I don't think BA would take loss on this issue as Yongha Kim said that the game is made with a group, not individuals. The latest event was also received positively, too.
@@NaYaNa011 For sure. As with most big successful titles, while a small number of people might be the catalyst, in the end it would not have been createable without the support of all the people in the team and all the people who enjoy the game. It's not just writers and artists but designers and programmers as well. So while a loss of personnel is quite unfortunate in a way it's not something they can't bounce back from with proper management
I am honestly shocked by these chain of events. There is just so much to consider in this ongoing situation. The timing of the development of KV vs when BA started finding it's stride; What kind of company Nexon has been and will continue to be; The legal ramifications; The working conditions of the average BA employee; How much of the success of BA is attributed to team understanding BA or is it just pure luck? Personally I am going to follow them into Project KV just to see if they can create a story on par with Blue Archive. The cynicism in me tells me that they can't given that BA is their first major success, but we shall see. If anything, we should be worried if Project KV can weather this initial storm to even be launched. If KV doesn't get to even land, all we are going to be left with are broken halos. Unfortunately, legality doesn't take morality into account and emotions doesn't always take fairness into account. I think it would be premature to make any judgements on the creators. These head creators knew how much their fanbase cared, they had the money, and yet they still did this. Was it out of creative passion or the working conditions of the average employee or was it something else? I think it will be a long time before we get to know that. There is almost no doubt in my mind that Nexon will retaliate, and hopefully they have the legal confidence to weather this storm.
@@mottower Yea for sure I agree that we shouldn't be making personal attacks on the developers' character in this situation since there's just too much still up in the air. If legal proceedings do occur, the silver lining is that we can finally see more of what went on behind the scenes leading to this issue though I genuinely hope we don't end up in a situation that leads to everyone losing at the end of the day...
@@overworkedsalaryman That would be a court case I would like to read. I'm sure there is a great lesson to be learned there. Honestly just shocked since it's only just been a month since the Anime Expo panel.
Watching the video but I want to complain about the decreased art quality. Or at least, the drama behind it. Few thing I wish people consider more is other reasons why the art quality might have drop. 1. The Standardized Art style direction: I'm of the field that Mx2j's artstyle struggles with the new direction. This could be seen with Sakurako given how many players complained how her redesign looked. Not to mention, you can see the distinction before and after the change started. 2. Working on KV damaged BA: People use QMarina as an example for the damage but immeditely before this was SSaori (who was drawn by mx2j) which I don't see people complaining about despite being made like a week before QMarina. Did the KV damage just suddenly appear and drop like that? With Sugar Rush, there are arguments that can be levied like overwork (he is responsble for the design and aet of Sugar Rush), or Mx2j's struggle like I mentioned (Doremi supposedly worked on KV during this period too but no one complained about the quality the Dress Prefect and PC68 despite all of them being made and designed by Doremi similar to how Sugar rush was made by made and designed by Mx2j) I can believe that working on KV might have impacted them but there are way more reason beyond KV as to why the quality could have dropped that should be considered. Also, also. I think people doomposting about the art are too paranoid. The game always have other artists that appears frequently like kokosando, nemoga, etc. The game won't make or break without Doremi and Mx2j and it's not like they are leaving permanantly.
The first point I can kinda get and with Sugar Rush I can see your point of there being overwork and that potentially causin the fall in quality that's a fair argument. But for Saori & Marina as well as the Prefect and PC68 I feel like it's hard to pinpoint exactly whether or not that's the case since we don't know when they were asked to draw the art for those characters. I'm not saying you're wrong it's more just that I guess the big difference is that we already know from the PV that summer and dress already had their art direction set quite far back at least since otherwise it would've been hard to add them into the PV at the time so for all we know those could've been planned and designed far ahead of when they started working on KV. For some of the live service games I worked on in the past at least the art where possible is sometimes prepped 6 months to 1 year in advance and if what the devs previously said about the plans they have for BA are true then they might've very well have had all this planned before that 1 year span. That said for Red Winter there wasn't really any art shown in the PV (I could be mistaken if so please correct me on that) though the event itself was teased so it's possible that the event only started getting worked on later on design wise as they had not decided which characters to use for the story till fairly late hence why the quality is lower as the time that the art for it got worked on was fairly later in comparison. Of course this is all speculation on my part so I could very well be wrong I'm just speaking from my experience in other companies that have likely different workstyles as well so you could be right instead. But it is true that unless we know when they started working on the individual art it's hard to say which argument in this case is true as well. That said I agree with you that the game will likely be able to survive artwise at least and there's a lil bit too much doomposting there. The artists that left could very well return at some point as freelancers or what not and there are plenty other talented artists working on the game too
@@overworkedsalaryman Fair points and interesting things to learn. You opened a lot more possibilities for me to consider. Thanks for the extra food for thought. And I don't mind your speculations. I am very much doing the same. Honestly, my main goal with my points is for people to think about the situation more beyond the current concensus (the quality being damaged cause of putting work in KV.) I want to people to think more beyond 'KV bad' and consider other possible options.
@@Sambath-oc8ss Yea for sure I agree with your point that we should keep an open mind and thanks for considering my speculationss too XD Especially when we don't know how things might possible go it's best to see all possible angles like you said so it's good that we have more points for others to see 🙏
would be nice to see what Project KV could have sadly the controversy and the subsequent backlash drove that final nail unless an expose is released out there, for now the whole truth of the matter is pretty much buried along with the project
Yea it's quite unfortunate that we'll prolly never get to know what truly happened unless someone interviews a directly involved party like 5-10 years from now... hopefully their next project goes well though
What a bad situation overall, real shame too since i really liked the characters already revealed. This project could still work as a manhwa or something similar, a smaller scale other than a gacha game.
Yea I feel like if it had been announced what they were gonna work on at the start i.e what they were planning to release at Comiket was teased somewhere it would've taken some of the flak off of them that they were receiving in Japan as well and people would've been less up in arms overall perhaps. Hopefully their next project goes well though...
4:16 I'm hard now, thanks. For me, Nexon better had done something truly awful if the people that left the BA team decided it was worth garnering a lot of ill will from the player base by supposedly lowering the game's quality, which even then seems strange, considering that they seem to be targeting the exact same market. Plus, so far the only draws they've shown towards the game are the similarities to BA and ecchi stuff, which doesn't seems like a very strong foundation (imo), but we will see in time if they've actually cooked something good or not. Also, I do have to say, people who just say "Wow, two cakes!" are very simple minded, in my opinion; not only is it way more nuanced than that, but it could very well result in overall lower quality for both sides. Like, would you rather eat one delicious cake, or two shit cakes? So, all in all, I hope this doesn't just result in the downfall of two things just because of the greed of some people who were high off of some success, and if it does, the fumble will need to be studied fr.
Yea the harassment of the artist was insane imo. I rlly liked their art and feel like the difference it would've brought to kancolle ought to have been refreshing. Really hope they are ok too... though yea considering that Kancolle only really does live events nowadays with barely any in game stuff it does feel like a matter of time before the playerbase dwindles to worrying levels though at least in JP specifically they still have the arcade ver. to carry them a lil more longer
@@overworkedsalaryman I actually never really followed Kancolle, so I'm kinda clueless about the game. I did think the OP and ending of the first anime season were bangers tho.
@@overworkedsalaryman i just watched your blue archive time line that makes me curios if the project kv controversy and the leaving of the writers will have a significant effect on the quality and sales of the game. but i guess only time will tell
I'm of the impression that Blue Archive kinda went off the rails after Abydos Summer; it doesn't seem that way to most people, but if you compare the amount of conceptual sketches between the first and second volume of artbooks, you can see there is far less conceptual art available in the latter. That alone doesn't mean much, but then you realize a lot of contracted artists were also not renewed to do alts for their respective units, such as those for Suzumi, Nagisa, Sumire, etc. And it's normal to not increase expenditure once you've found a solid art direction for the game and want to keep consistent sprites and L2ds, I get that. But then you see artists like mx2j, 7peach, and kokosando do quite a lot of the artwork going forward and far less direct involvement from Doremi and hwansang as they were in year 1. The art style also shifts from being heavily detailed with soft shadows (B. Neru is a prime example) to having blockier shadows with harsher lighting (likely to reduce the time and resource constraints to meet deadlines; you can use B. Toki as an example). So I do think that the quality that was being put out for the past two years (long before Marina Qipao) was a direct consequence of production trying to make more with less on the table (especially when it seems that the art directors and creative leads also took on administrative roles over operational roles, and I stress - - not reusing the original artists for the sprites available on release). Should the former staff have poached their fellow staff members? Probably not, if they wanted to maintain good relations with Nexon. Did Nexon make the right choice reserving the right to keep and use designs from artists who are no longer part of the company? Absolutely. Could Blue Archive have been of better quality and management to mitigate this with more hires? Easily, if Nexon realized if larger gacha studios like Kuro Games and Mihoyo mostly reinvested into themselves to expand production instead of squeezing it. At that point I don't know if that's the investors' issue or the executives'.
I feel like one thing that gets left out with the comparisons to CN studios is that there is a very big financial and social advantage to being a studio there that makes expansion easier than in JP and KR. For one thing the government keeps their exchange rate intentionally weak (this is a standard economic strategy that a country can take for improving export demand) which also means that any revenues earned abroad scale massively for them to hire at scale back home as well. Combine this with the lower average wage and the huge talent pool of talented people looking for jobs due to the huge population and it makes for a very unique job market that makes that level of expansion easier there than in say Japan where the population growth is negative and Korea where it is falling into that trend bit by bit in a country that was already much smaller. That and CN being fairly newer of a player into the industry means that most of the pitfalls that hit later stage countries in the industry aren't really a thing yet (such as institutionalised game design in universities basically gearing grads to work in a big game firm rather than to try and make it big themselves resulting in people more used to taking orders rather than innovating) So while I agree that what Mihoyo and Kurogames are doing is ideal it's also something that socio-economically is just harder to pull off in JP and KR in their current economic and industry state
@@overworkedsalaryman That's very true. I do believe that pre-release though, they did hire internationally with Fame (the original artist of Sumire and Nagisa, and I think Ichika) who is from Thailand. So it's not like Nexon doesn't have the capability to hire outside of the East Asian hemisphere (unless the person responsible for international hires no longer works with Nexon Games, but that's just speculation at this point).
@@vedrisca It shouldn't be impossible to do it if they really wanted to usually it's just companies not wanting to deal with the paperwork of contracting someone abroad. Which is a shame if anything that the process is such a pain because I'd love to see artists across the world get recognised for their talent in games like these too!
Oh god you reminded me of my kancolle years (yes, before the mobile client released... i may have been a japanophile then). People went off when Azur Lane happened and then the anime came out and it went nuclear levels. And people barely had any idea what was going on because of the lack of communication. Really seems like the controversy/flame wars has been getting too common in just the last year in gacha space. I saw WuWa vs GI vs ZZZ (me being a veteran of both companies), Arknights vs Path to Nowhere, and now BA VS PKV.. of course, also cannot forget Limbus Company vs the Internet during last year, that thing went national korean news even! also 10/10 on the horrible joke. a real Dad Jordan errmm sorry i meant joudan
I'm glad the joke worked out. I do like my bad dad jokes but I always worry if people will unsub from how unfunny they are at times XD Though yea with Azur Lane especially since it was a CN game which weren't as common at the time it feels like it did take extra heat too. In a way they crawled so that the rest of the CN games could run in Japan years later
I find it funny how things have come full circle. At the time, the allegations were "Azur Lane is a blatant copycat of Kantai Collection, who has been running for years now. They even ripped off the main girl (Enterprise for AL)", and now it's more like "Oh a ship gacha game? is that a Azur Lane copycat" mentality. It's really ironic how people forget how similar situations have happened in the past
It certainly does feel like one of the bigger implosions in a long while because of the state in which the members left the team I guess... Suffice to say this level of an issue may very well have not popped up before in the industry
Someone told me while I was streaming something else. It's really sad to hear it end in this way since it's so inconclusive and it feels like everyone just lost in this situation... I just hope whatever project they go on to next ends up doing well though
I know what I'm about to say is contradictory but please hear me out. I'm not really all that interested in the Project KV controversy. Yes yes, I know, then why am I watching this video? It's because your video is easier to digest and I like how you explain this. Basically I'm interested in enough to where I'd wanna hear it in an easily digestible way, but not interested enough to look at the doc. I knew about the doc for a while, and I simply could not be bothered. Part of it is kinda motivated by malice, because I saw some really crazy people on the JP side of twitter going lunatic mode and acting like they're traitors who should die. I just felt the whole controversy was overblown. I was actually a bit excited for Project KV. I did want it to succeed, but then it just felt like people were just wanting it to fail, and when it actually got cancelled that made me kinda mad. Felt disappointed. I really wanted to see something new because I was already beginning to feel disappointment in Blue Archive from the news of all the alts we're gonna be getting. I guess you could say I wanted something to directly compete with BA so there could be competition between the two of them, maybe. I still very much like BA but the alt situation is annoying. Ever since the 3rd anniversary, there has only been 3 new characters, and the rest have been alts. There should have been way more, especially since there's been event reruns with characters who have not been released yet. Like Reijo. But yes, it is within my nature to always try to assume the best of people. Yet time and time again I just see people jumping to the worst. It's really tiring. All I want is for people to do their best, and I wanted to see the best from Project KV. They say they may be back, so I am hoping they will.
Yea as far as possible I want to assume the best as well and hey! Just because it may seem contradictory doesn't mean it is something that we won't hear out so no worries! For all you know it might seem less contradictory than it might seem at first. I do kinda get what you mean though. I feel like there were a genuinely big proportion of people who initially wanted it to be a healthy competition sorta situation where both could exist in tandem it's just that the background of the situation if true really riled up people even more I'd imagine and made it hard for some to wish the best for Project KV. If anything, the amount of support people have conversely started to show for Project VK (the non-profit work in progress that initially wanted to prove that they could work faster than KV in making a good game) shows that the issue prolly isn't so much that people don't want competition but were just mad with the people in charge of KV. That said I find the fact that it ended the way it did sad too since really no one actually wins in a situation like this, not the devs, nor the fans. And it would be really sad if the people who were brought on to the project just have their stuff not see the light of day. I just heard from a freelance scenario writer brought on to help with their project whose work will just never be seen now and whose schedule is just completely messed up because now they've lost this entire contract so it really is a sad situation overall and I do hope that at some point the effort these people put into the project would be released in some form in the future.
Thank you for breaking it down the Project KV. There's a lot of doomposting especially from KR and JP (heck even some EN) communities regarding the future of the Blue Archive going to fall off real fast because the devs from Project KV used to work with Nexon which resulted creating unnecessary drama and rumours circulating across the social media. We have to wait and see how Project KV and Blue Archive will go through.
Doomposting does sound like a pretty accurate word lol. It does feel that considering the backgrounds of the people involved in all of this I don't think BA will die from this although there having been a hit is also a fact. I feel like a lot of what made BA successful till now isn't something that will be lost just from this alone and as long as the producer doesn't lose hope after losing some of his closer comrades in this whole issue the game should be able to bounce back. Though yea we really need to wait and watch for now as the big actors in this entire issue haven't even made their moves yet. Feels like there's only more to come here on out
RE news grabbing the controversy in Korean: the last massive gaming controversy I can remember in Korea was about "feminists inserting male hate symbols" into media--specifically animated shorts and trailers. It was heavily researched by fans, loads of evidence was compiled, people were completely convinced and extremely angry and after investigation and disclosure it was revealed that none of those on staff for the "offending" material was female.
@@terrenceswiff That situation was a truly bizarre witch hunt yea. Though tbh with that one even the hate symbol itself felt like such a normal hand position it feels alot like the ok sign psyop that with how the origin point felt beyond silly. There was also the dark and darker one though that one also has quite fractured opinions outside and inside korea now it seems There was also the game ratings board one where it got found out that the board was actually corrupt and it got into a lot of heat, feels like there's always something big happening there
@@overworkedsalaryman The game's rating board one was funny because iirc nobody actually wanted an investigation, just more like, they were annoyed at the decisions being made and then an investigation happened and YIKES
@@terrenceswiff Yea it's wild that it managed to escalate to that level tbh. The amount going on behind the scenes with that one was definetly shocking
@@AishiRU-vid Tbh I didn't expect it to come within less than 24hrs of this video dropping that was shocking... it's prolly due to the whistleblower that came out after but still
@@overworkedsalaryman Yeah the rumors came to light really fast. I'm big into the doujin scene for my favorite games so the thought of all the artists involved potentially burning bridges and ruining the design continuity of BA over this is pretty sad. I know global players didn't have the same ire towards workers moonlighting a second game because they haven't experienced the glacial pacing of Vol1Ch3, but the whole "two cakes" meme was ignorant to the fact that one of my favorite games was being cannibalized from the inside. Anyways, mini-rant, hope we still see mx2j, child, and others back on board. Always glad to find a new interesting channel with so much old content to watch.
welp, at least now you don't have to watch it if you don't want to. Or watch it for the jokes earlier on and laugh at the boomer joke and then turn it off if that interests you still XD
@@overworkedsalaryman Haha. I watched it. I only knew a bit about the drama so your video helped a lot. I also don't know about the google document so thanks. I think I'm going to read it.
Yea it's kinda shocking things moved so quickly. I know Nexon is big there but even then... without gameplay I'm surprised they could move to stop it this quickly since I doubt they would stop just from angry people on twitter
So the game got cancelled, probaly for the best for the dev considere how way too similiar their gameplay with BA, the consequences of same face marketing. probaly for the best rather than see the dev keep developing it and due to pressure and demand to make it not too similiar under development only to cause the sevs suffer technical debt developing the game and wasting way too many money. It seems people down here think like it's the end of the world but tbf it's more of a blessing for the dev avoid a bullet of controversy especialy from activist group in KR that litteraly swore to game end every game company and their worker in there.
While you guys are focusing on the writers and producers, I'm looking it at the artist side. The three biggest artists of BA came on board, Hwansang, Mx2J and DoReMi. Story and gameplay aside, it's probably these artists that made the game successful. Like the first Bunnygirl event is what put the game in the map in JP, it seems. And guess who did those designs? Mx2j. And DoReMi has worked on many girls that have become extremely popular as well. And Hwansang, as then Head or art, also contributed with Shiroko. And it's precisely because these three are on board with the KV Project that the game has a chance to get attention and any traction, because art is what carries gacha games in this saturated market. There's alot of controversies and misinfo going around, on both sides. So it can be difficult on making an educated judgment this early. For now, I'm choosing to give them the benefit of the doubt, given Nexon's bad rep in general, and consider this as a case of creative differences and restrictiveness driving this whole situation, rather than some nefarious drive on the part of the KV Project side. But we'll see.
@@Acerelado For sure th art is a strong drawing hook too. I'd say that art provides the strong initial draw that story and gameplay then need to create the staying power for after in a sort of symbiotic relationship which is what the team as a whole has managed to do well for a while which is why it's sad to see things go this way. Looking at the artists it does feel like they are getting a lot of excess hate now which I feel is excessive as no one has come out to speab about the situation yet so we don't know how it'll actually go. As you said only time will tell it feels like
@@overworkedsalaryman If they're getting too much hate, they can always restrict PM's and Replies on their personal accounts. Ultimately, I hope they don't get too much flak from rabid fans. You see it too often when artists becomes easy targets for bullying and the like. My take is that they moved into the KV Project because they want more creative freedom in their art, and they felt they weren't getting it by staying with BA. I've also heard that DoReMi and Ms2J are more of freelancers, so they haven't technically left BA. I dunno about that, since they get prominently listed as staff with project, so I take it as "COPIUM" by some BA fans. And even if freelancing, since their time will be absorbed by this new project, it might as well mean they've quit BA since they wouldn't really be pumping more work for them. For my part, since artwork from the BA girls is what got me interested into BA to begin with, and most of the popular girls being creations/collaborations between Hwansang, DoReMi and Mx2J, their involvement would be the only reason I'd even give KV the time of day to begin with.
@@Acerelado Honestly if "creative freedom" is the reason they left, they better be giving us some spicy designs for Project KV. I can already see it with the art Mx2J drew of Koito - I hope the final game is as lewd as that lol.
@@luisortega8085 Got to see them live once many years ago when they fronted for Sonata Artica. Really love their stuff n hope they come to Japan one day
Great video as always from you. Its a funny coincidence that KV got canceled the day after this video was released Its also a bit suspicious that it was announced a day or two after the whistleblower thing whats your opinion on it?
I'm glad you found the video interesting and yea the coincidence was certainly shocking since it less than 24 hours after the fact. I'm guessing the whistleblower prolly had something to do with it though right now we can only speculate as no party has come out among the major players in this to say anything. If Nexon had anything to do with it they probably would've made an announcement to make an example out of the case especially after what happened with Dark & Darker previously so the likelihood of them having moved on this is questionable though we'll have to see over the coming week they might be prepping a statement through their lawyers if anything
So uhh yeah...... that happened. Still a really great video though. It is rather unfortunate but it is what it is. I hope everyone involved with the project will come out better from the cancellation
@@ZEDEX252 It's rlly unfortunate that happened yea... rlly hope both sides manage to bounce back after all of this. Also I'm glad I released this video 1 day b4 the usual or ip would've looked like a fool pulling an all-nighter for th3 cancellation to happen b4 the video went up
I saw the news. It's sad that it had to end in this way. Since the inconclusiveness of it all feels like it all got into a conflict that hurt everyone and no one really won in the end... I hope their next project goes well tho whatever it may be
@@427Cabriolet Yea it's part of why people felt like the artists who left for KV dropped the ball on BA on purpose. Whether that actually is the case is one thing but it certainly didn't do them any service cuz of he timing
Guess we'll only know for sure if more info ever comes out of this situation. With Nexon being the way it is it might be awhile till anything else comes out if they really are starting to clamp down now
At the very least it does seem like some people in Japan might be more wary of working with them considering that they did leave some freelancers from JP hanging as well in the development of this project due to its cancellation so even if there isn't a black listing that immediately happens people will be more careful in the future
Project KV situations could've been different if they didn't add too much BA elements in it. The way i see it: Remember this anime called Busou shojo machiavellism? it's an anime about high school girls and martial arts? they were trying to make their game settings like in that anime but instead, they added/injected too much BA elements into it, thus making it look like a straight BA copycat.
Yea or if it at least released a year later where even if it were similar people would prolly be more fine and welcoming with it since it wouldn't give people the reason to speculate that issues with BA were their fault as well
Damn.... Kv was cancelled. Personally I believe it was announced wayyyyyyy to soon.I feel like they should have did the HG route. Wait half a year and announce something very new and unique.I really hope they would recycle their designs from KV.
Yea it's quite shocking how quickly they cancelled it if anything. I would've thought they'd at least try to address all the stuff that was happening and maybe even debunk some of it and maybe make something interesting at some point but we'll have to see now I guess what happens next
KV is cancelled Now they have time to actually think of an original IP, a new concept, not just some "BA but with--" (Project KV: BA but with swords) Fans supported them when they left so they can have more creative freedom and pursue new projects differend from BA, not just for them to make a BA clone in the end which is like a backstab for BA fans. Still looking forward to their next project, hopefully distancing themselves from BA
@@overworkedsalaryman Nexon might have done something in the shadows since Project KV was still in full swing despite the huge huge KR and JP community backlash, or they realized releasing the game might not be worth the troubles, or that they did not secure future funding (aside from the initial angel investor) and that no other investors wanted to dip their toes with the controversy Dynamis One is in
@@YoshimiMilk If they did we'll prolly see an announcement by Nexon somewhere soon it feels like. After what happened with Dark n Darker it feels like they'd be more open to parading a W around so that their brand isn't damaged as much this time
Thanks for covering this, I have been following this deeply since before aug 1st till today. (couldnt watch this on release bcos busy weekend...) Spoiler alert KV has now died. As for my own opinion, I was very hype for KV, up till the trailer release, with my reaction being, is this just BA 2.0? Followed with KimYongHa retweeting arisu archive's tweet, it sealed the deal that KV was unrelated to BA. Project KV had no reason for it to be clearly a copy of BA. As for anyone that says its not a copy, I say you are blind. Literally the world and setting is a copy of BA. I really want to support both companies and its creators, since I do love BA, but this KV is not it. 残念is the best word to describe how I feel now that KV is dead. I honestly dont know why there are so many english comments(both here and on twitter) being angry at "asians" for cancelling project KV. Do they just want more cunny(especially nsfw ones) and want both cakes but are too dumb to understand that dividing the community is not the way? Granted most of this controversy is mostly rumoured and unverified information, both sides still has not addressed the drama in any capacity. Not that they would, unfortunately. I hope this video would lead to more english speaking people understand why the koreans are hating on dynamis one so much. Followup video now that KV is dead and has more drama regarding the reporter and whistleblower? Inb4 more new drama every day. Also, where is weekly akiba post?!
The infighting in the BA community between EN and JP/KR is honestly kinda stupid.. a lot of EN players are assuming JP/KR players are hating on KV just because it's a "BA clone" while in reality it's more of the "intent behind the game" that is being scrutinized by JP/KR... Like seriously no cute and funny enjoyer would ever complain for any new cute and funny content.
My apologies I didn't manage to go to Akiba this week, got stuck in a business meeting drink session till like 10pm and then all of this happend so I pulled an all-nighter for this video. Though yea it does feel like the nuance of the issue got lost as Xedllin also pointed out where the fact that what people were unhappy of here was the intent just didn't get across very well. Tbh I feel like if the game had released under more wholesome circumstances no one would be mad and everyone would welcome there being more games as well but it does feel like that context might've gotten lost on them or maybe it's just a difference in priorities and culture that made that difference. Though either way, it's a shame things had to end this way as now we'll never get to know what really happened behind the scenes or not for a long few years at least
I guess this video came out just in time for the overnight work to finish it to not be wasted. But more so than that, it's sad that it ended this way... if anything it makes it feel even more inconclusive as to what happened behind the scenes in the end since this could very well be the end of it now. I do hope whatever project they work on next it ends up doing well though
Been reading the comments, do we think it was Nexon's lawyers and if so, will there ever be evidence of this? It was so abrupt and part of me was looking forward to trying out this new game.
I was going to comment on this but now the Project KV has been canceled. Is there still a light at the end of the tunnel? Is the possibility of a new project still realistic while capturing the same niche and target audience, or are all former Nexon devs eventually blacklisted from the industry? Despite how sloppy this was all handled by them, at the end of the day I just wanted good games and characters from this and now both games and IPs might suffer...
Yea it's sad to thing that both parties are prolly going to suffer from this... though I don't think all of them are going to get blacklisted from theentire industry at least. Maybe from Nexon but without further info we prolly won't know how bad it was and I highly doubt we ever will at this point...
No news has come out as to why it got cancelled yet so everything is really just up to speculation now unless more info comes out. Though looking at how things went we may never know...
I've thoroughly read the document by StellaSolaris, including the 09/07 updates, and the opinions of multiple netizens. Personally, I'm staying clear of KV and Dynamis until they can prove themselves. Their approach so far has been too suspect for me to support them in good conscience. The presentation of KV feels like borderline plagarism; I cannot agree to the "two cakes" perspective until KV can further distinguish itself from Blue Archive. Even with the office politics in the background making it difficult to be objective, how Dynamis rushed out and pander for support for KV does not make themselves look good.
@@chungga94 It certainly does feel like there is a lot going on behind the scenes that we still don't know about with all of this so I'll prolly hold back my own judgement but it certainly does feel like the current situation does not do them any favors. We'll have to see if they eventually speak up about all of this soon as otherwise it might b quite an uphill battle for them
I just saw the cancellation too. I feel like if it ends like this then it really is gonna leave things even more inconclusive which in a way makes it feel like such an awkward ending for the people involved in it at least... I hope they do find in whatever they do next
@@overworkedsalaryman Maybe it was Nexon legal department threating lawsuit? Who knows at this point. On the other hand Isakusan, Mx2j and Doremi burned bridges and I'm afraid BA will loose a lot of it's quality (absolutely no one played BA for gameplay). I'm a lot emotinally invested in BA and fearing a dark future before it. Ultimately nothing good was creaded because of this entire situation, we only lost excellent artist and writer from BA so it's a loss...
The true shit just got real moment was when I was reading the document you have linked and as of 7 Sep 2024 2255 SGT *it is still being updated real time* . I still haven't watched your video because I can read a lot faster than I can watch a video, but rest assured I am going to hear you out as soon as I can.
I was editing the document when someone I know pinged me over on discord saying I got cited in a video :trol: hope the document helps since you don't know if this is a legitimate account I'll write blue archive at the very end of the article :p
Tbh, with this video I made it with the hopes that people would read the doc so if you've clicked on that then my job is done lol. That person is doing a lot of work cataloging info on this situation. That said, feel free to watch the video if it strikes your fancy at your leisure! And thanks for dropping by in the comments here too XD
@@Moonstone-Redux lol I hope it proves impartial enough, I do try but it will still be biased since I do have my own opinions I just want BA to pop off again honestly
Something i was noticing about this whole Project KV controversy is misinformation, people claiming fake stuff just to cget some clicks anddddd a bunch of theories like "oh this is just an inside job of Nexon just to advertise a new game" or "nah it´s blue archive 2", but well we live in the age of misinformation sadly Also i still feel this whole drama is basically the devs of KV pissed with Nexon (maybe) and trying to send indirects like these guys who were pissed with someone online and start to talk about them indirectly. Buuut this time they´re using their fame to promote the game, since well... cult of celebrity strikes agian, yay BTW thanks for making this vid, that document and your infos are the best foaround here, since you show us data and stuff, i hope this whole drama dosen´t end damaging blue archive AND project KV a lot, i hope both have success and forget about this childish drama @_@
Yea it would be nice if both games do well though we'll hav to see how Nexon and Dynamis One try to get through this and whether any action will get taken Also glad the video was informative on the situation if anything!
I'll just pray for the best for everyone so that BA can keep going on and the Alaya people can churn out good and original IP that everyone can love and that this drama just become an additional note in gacha history kinda like GFL x AK drama
@@syaondri Yea hopefully it things don't go horribly for anyone involved. Right now it feels like things are already sad enough as is so hopefully it turns around and both continue to be able to produce good content
They do have clauses that try to prevent working on a competing product while in the company but nothing for leaving and working for the competition since that's kinda hard to enforce in the game industry
This situation reminds me of Fire Emblem creator Shouzou Kaga, who left with the artist and some staff to create a rival game that borders on plagiarism, TearRingSaga (initially titled Emblem Saga, as Kaga even promised story connections). There was no sabotage per se, but it probably contributed to cancellation of Fire Emblem 64 and the series scaling back and moving in a safer direction on GBA. In hindsight, we have 2 cakes, because TRS is a great SRPG **and** Fire Emblem is stronger than ever, but at the time it cost money and reputation. Kaga has been (mostly) out of the public eye, uncredited in the sequel Berwick Saga, but recently returned to develop indie RPG Maker titles
@@borgar2223 Hopefully he continues to be able to make great games though yea it's sad that things happened to him on that level since if he went to the lvel of promising story connections it feels like he prolly had some level of positivity with the company when initially leaving...
I knew this game screams red flag yet i still let myself get attached to the characters and im sad now rip project kv Those girls deserve better i hope they recycle the characters on future project
I wonder if this actually links all the way back to the OG astolfo sword memes from fgo. I've beeen seeing some of that bringing brought up recently too before the futa art blew up. Would be funny if it did
Only thing I heard about KV is that it has strangely high percentage of futa art, and that it's gonna be an eroge. But oh well, I guess another day another drama.
There's always something going on in the world of Korean gacha games it feels like. Though yea, still waiting to see if they do actually release an eroge somewhere along the way what with their company registration and all. Would make more sense as to why they wanted to turn up at Comiket in the first place at least
Damn, I just got into Blue Archive like 2 months ago and then I learn about this. I'll probably stick to it because I love BA out of the few gachas I've played so far, but it hurts to see this crap happen. I did read the whole document, however, and I'm honestly curious when it describes programmers being "looked down upon" and being the reason why out of many staff, none of the programmers left. I don't think antagonizing the people who essentially do the "dirty" (I guess that's what they might consider it because it doesn't carry the same level of prestige that more user-focused positions like writing or art can gain?) work of coding and maintaining the game are worth any kind of ridicule. EDIT: So with the project now cancelled, it turns out that they had a willing investor that wanted to see a working prototype first... which they didn't have... because they DIDN'T HAVE ANY PROGRAMMERS TO MAKE ONE. Karma's a bitch, ain't it?
@@had_fun_once My opinion may be biased because I'm one of those development side people as well so treat this with a pinch of salt but. I feel that there really isn't any reason to look down upon anyone tbh. In the end, the game in its end state is not a outcome of any one specific facaulty but of all walks coming together to create a cohesive product. With just art and writing without the game to support it, this could've just been a title lost among the sea of manhwas and light novels. If it was just this gameplay with gray boxes and no plot, it prolly would've been a kusoge. So I do believe that every person in this is just as important. Even the rank and file data monkeys which having been one myself when I first entered the industry, I can safely say a team with poor data managers could lose so much money that their work is just as worthy of respect.
@@had_fun_once That's true, it does seem like quite a strange thing to... it rlly might be as you say someone there jus thinking their job is more pivotal because it's more visible on the surface of the game or something. Would be odd otherwise
I absolutely love Blue Archive, and I respect the developers' decisions to make their own artistic choices in their careers. What I can't respect is the really bad picture that their recent actions have painted, and it seems that a public response from them about this situation is now more necessary than ever. I can only hope that both games maintain their original visions and passion for the art they present.
@@legitlegitimacy While most stuff is still speculatory I feel like the one objective thing we can say is, they definetly drop the ball on the marketing front considering how hard it fractured opinions. If handled better I feel like people would've welcomed the title with open arms considering the people working on it
And Project KV is cancelled today. The End...Hope they come back with new ideas which is different from blue archive I guess. What a shame man..what a shame...
I smell fishy thing happened once I figured like, wasn't there such thing as non-compete clause and cooling off period? If the bad blood within Nexon is true then I'm just glad I only touched the characters and understand story instead of actually playing the game. (Dang, Blue Archive anime is just not satisfied enough) By the way, I did a catch on with your videos on oversea credit card rejected by Japanese sites, then just wonder if you're aware of Yamada Taro (the House of Councillors Member) had a meeting with VISA executives in August-might be worthy of a follow up here.
As far as I know there are clauses to prevent people from working on games while in the company but non-compete after is hard since with games that basically would end up implying most of the industry is a no go which makes it harder for it to stand since technically all games would compete with each other for player time especially in the mobile game industry. Plus most people tend to hop after 3 - 5 years nowadays even in Japan so it's hard to enforce non-competes that are effective even after a person leaves the company. Also I did hear about the thing with the VISA execs and glad you saw the previous video! o7 After readin through all the stuff he said I'm still not fully convinced that it has had any impact yet since VISA basically threw the local staff under the bus and feigned ignorance but when there's even more info I might make a video on it as it does seem like the investigations should still be continuing
