{"id":54227,"date":"2025-11-23T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54227"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:35:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T05:35:56","slug":"hololives-indie-publishing-label-was-launched-to-return-the-favor-to-game-creators-we-ask-ceo-motoaki-tanigo-yagoo-about-the-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/hololives-indie-publishing-label-was-launched-to-return-the-favor-to-game-creators-we-ask-ceo-motoaki-tanigo-yagoo-about-the-project\/","title":{"rendered":"hololive\u2019s\u00a0indie publishing label was launched to \u201creturn the favor\u201d to game creators. We ask CEO Motoaki\u00a0Tanigo\u00a0(YAGOO) about the project\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While COVER has been actively expanding its business to video games with its own\u00a0hololive-brand projects like\u00a0hololive\u00a0ERROR,\u00a0Holoearthand\u00a0Holo\u2019s\u00a0Hanafuda, the company is also making solid efforts to support the work of independent developers and creators willing to promote the\u00a0hololive\u00a0IP. Picking up where we left off in the\u00a0previous\u00a0article tracing the origins of the company<\/a>, we asked COVER CEO Motoaki\u00a0Tanigo\u00a0\u201cYAGOO\u201d to tell us more about the tight mutual relationship between\u00a0hololive\u00a0production\u00a0and its fanbase, and how it led to the creation of COVER\u2019s indie publishing label\u00a0holo\u00a0Indie.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fan works have always played a huge role in the success of COVER and hololive production, and ever since the VTubing branch\u2019s early days, the company had a clear set of guidelines for derivative content like fan art, livestream highlight clips and even video games. As YAGOO explained, while the guidelines were there to help fan works tie into promotion for their talents, \u201cat the same time, [the decision to implement such guidelines] also stemmed from our desire to support creators.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"hololive
hololive ERROR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the fanbase grew, and with it the quality of fanmade content, COVER had to devise some workarounds for their guidelines \u2013 specifically, a legal framework which would allow creators to earn money by making derivative content. \u201cFanmade hololive-themed games were being developed since way back, but our derivative work guidelines back in the day suggested that monetization was forbidden. Because of that, we had to develop a scheme that would enable monetization and thus encourage developers to continue creating more games. That\u2019s how, as a \u2018game creator support program,\u2019 the holo Indie project was brought to existence,\u201d YAGOO explained.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Idol
Idol Showdown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

holo Indie was launched in 2023 as a publishing brand under CCMC Corporation, which was originally started by COVER staff Kamochi Taro and Kanegawa Muneyoshi. As YAGOO explained, the new company was launched with the goal to provide proper means of support for game creators who create content based on COVER\u2019s original IPs. But the idea to create such a company actually came after the unprecedented success of HoloCure – Save the Fans! in 2023, he notes. HoloCure \u2013 Save the Fans! is a fanmade Vampire Survivors-like game featuring many of the hololive production talents as playable characters. The game ended up becoming a hit among fans, and was subsequently showcased in numerous livestreams of the VTubers themselves. However, despite earning an Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam (almost 40,000 cumulative reviews at the time of writing) and becoming a staple among holo fans, due to COVER\u2019s derivative content guidelines, KayAnimate, the developer, wasn\u2019t allowed to monetize the game in any way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe game was super popular, but I felt bad that the creator didn\u2019t get anything in return,\u201d YAGOO said. \u201cThis all became possible because of the games that were made with no compensation becoming huge hits, and we created holo Indie to return that favor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Okayunyumu!\"
Okayunyumu!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When asked what kind of impact he is aiming to make on the video game community, YAGOO said that COVER\u2019s number one priority would be making video game creation more accessible. \u201cI think \u2018lowering the stakes of game development\u2019 is what we wanted to do the most. I believe it would be great if we were able to help people achieve their dreams of making a living as game developers. That goes not just for solo creators \u2013 we would like to be of help to anyone who is trying to create interesting games, and that includes former industry professionals who went independent, and even veteran developers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, holo Indie boasts a roster of more than 30 different games, including hits like Chrono Gear: Warden of Time (developed by Team Chrono Gear, GalaxyTrail), hololive Treasure Mountain (developed by BeXide Inc.), and holo Parade (Roboqlo), with many more new titles to come.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Interviewer, writer: Kousaku Akano] 
[Editor: Sayoko Narita] 
\u00a9 COVER <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COVER CEO Motoaki “YAGOO” Tanigo talks about how and why his company launched its own indie game publishing label.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nhololive\u2019s\u00a0indie publishing label was launched to \u201creturn the favor\u201d to game creators. 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