Following the explosion of Virtual YouTubers over the past few years, especially in the wake of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hololive Production has grown into one of the most popular VTuber companies in the world. The massive talent agency boasting a roster of over 60 VTubers across Japanese, English, and Indonesian branches has become a staple in the VTuber industry with many of its talents amassing millions of subscribers on YouTube and becoming some of the most super-chatted channels in the platform's history. Now, in a shocking announcement, Hololive has terminated one of its top-earning VTubers.Hololive announced earlier this week that the company would be parting ways with VTuber Uruha Rushia, a member of the company's "third generation" of VTubers. Rushia had become among the most popular members of Hololive since her debut in July 2019, building a fanbase of over 1.5 million subscribers and becoming the most super chatted channel on YouTube with her top spot closely followed by multiple other Hololive members. Now, following a recent controversy and claims of a breach of contract, Rushia has given her first statement following her dismissal from Hololive.The post was made through Rushia's old alias, Mikeneko, on Twitter and expressed her mental and physical exhaustion following her unceremonious departure from Hololive. The popular VTuber expressed her deepest sympathies to her fanbase and apologized profusely, adding that she planned to stream again on her old account at a later date. Rushia also streamed through TwitCasting, Twitter's livestreaming service, on Thursday apologizing to fans once again and urging fans not to spread rumors or misinformation about her termination from the massive VTuber agency.
Rushia's departure from Hololive marks a massive shift for an agency boasting some of YouTube's most popular VTubers that has already seen two major talents leave the company since July. Last summer saw the departure of another massive talent for Hololive, the fourth generation member Kiryu Coco. Coco was, at the time, the highest super-chatted YouTuber since YouTube launched the super-chat program in 2017, remaining the second highest super-chatted channel behind Rushia almost eight months after Coco's departure from the agency.
The departure of Rushia will leave a massive hole for Hololive to fill as other companies invest more into the VTuber industry. Last year, Disney was reportedly interested in launching a VTuber and several other companies including Sega, Crunchyroll, and Netflix have introduced VTubers within the past few years. Not only have VTubers like Coco and Rushia broken records on YouTube, Twitch has also been no stranger to the rise of VTubers as Ironmouse recently became the most active subscribed channel on Twitch. As Hololive parts ways with one of its biggest names, the company will have to pick up the pieces to remain the top name in its industry.
Source: Dexerto