EDIT: I’m sorry, everyone. It pains me to say this, but I’ve been forced to make the video private. I’m not at liberty to discuss the reason why. I’ll only say that it was putting a specific individual at risk. (Not me.) I’ll update this post if the situation changes.
Last year, an extremely serious accusation was made about me that I would like to address. Please watch the video below.
I’m sure that you have a lot of questions about the future of Yandere Simulator. Click “Continue Reading” to get some answers.
“A lot of your voice actors have resigned. What will you do regarding voice acting?”
Now that I have released a video apologizing for inappropriate behavior (but also clarifying that I never attempted to “groom” a child), maybe some of those voice actors will decide to return.
The ideal reaction to my video would be,
- “Great news! He’s not actually a child predator! It’s okay to work with him again!”
However, I must acknowledge the alternative reactions:
- “Great news! He’s not actually a child predator! However, he is a magnet for controversy, and there is a strong likelihood that more drama will come his way in the future, so it’s not safe to return to his project.”
- “Great news! He’s not actually a child predator! However, most of my friends and work colleagues remain convinced that he is, and they would turn against me if I worked for him, so I can’t return to his project.”
- “Great news! He’s not actually a child predator! However, thousands of Internet trolls remain convinced that he is, and they would harass me relentlessly if I worked for him, so I can’t return to his project.”
Several former project members have already expressed variations of above sentiments to me. “I’ve known you for years and I know you’re not a creep, but because of the hate-storm surrounding you, we can’t work together anymore. Sorry.” I can’t blame them. I don’t want anyone to become ostracized from their friend groups or be targeted for Internet trolls just for associating with me.
So, even though a voice actor may understand that I’m not a child groomer or anything even remotely related to one, there are still multiple valid reasons why they may choose to not return to the project.
That stings. It stings a lot, honestly. Losing people who I’ve been working with since 2015 is emotionally devastating, especially considering the circumstances it happened under.
However, if there is nothing I can do about it, then I have no choice but to move forward.
Over the past three months, numerous people reached out to volunteer as replacements for the game’s original cast of voice actors. Unfortunately, almost none of them were able to match the audio quality or acting ability of the game’s original cast.
One solution would be to graduate from being a volunteer-based project and hire professional voice actors from this point forward. However, I am concerned that most professional voice actors would refuse to contribute to such a controversial project. Or, perhaps I’m wrong; maybe there are many actors who honestly don’t care in the slightest how scandalous a project is, and will gladly lend me their voices as long as they’re getting a paycheck. I don’t know which assumption is more realistic.
Another solution would be to simply ditch the idea of adding any further voice acting to the project. 1980s Mode and the first week of 202X Mode would still have voice acting, but all content added to the game from this point forward would lack voices. It would be awkward, for sure, but I may be left with no other choice.
However, it’s possible to look at this from a more optimistic perspective. There was only one thing holding me back from making progress on the rivals: I wanted to hold a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay voice actors and animators. But, if I commit to implementing the 9 remaining rivals without any new voice acting or animations, then we can just skip straight past the crowdfunding campaign and implement the rivals immediately. In this scenario, the game would almost certainly be complete before the end of 2024.
Unfortunately, a lack of voice acting or unique animations would make the nine remaining rivals feel quite underwhelming. Like mute clones of Osana. It would be nearly impossible to give them tons of character and personality without voice lines or new animations. The outcome definitely wouldn’t meet the hopes and expectations that players have been developing ever since those characters were first announced back in 2016.
I’m proud of the work I did for Osana’s week. I’m proud of the work I did for 1980s Mode. But, I don’t think I could be proud of implementing the nine remaining 202X rivals if they lacked voice acting or unique animations. And it’s hard to get motivated or excited to work on something when you already anticipate that you’re not going to be proud of the outcome.
I’ve put too much time and effort into Yandere Simulator to leave it unfinished. That would be like running a marathon and then quitting a few steps before crossing the finish line. So, regardless of the circumstances that I’ll have to work under from this point forward, I’m still committed to finishing the game. But, I can no longer predict what kind of production values the finished product will have. It’s out of my hands. We’ll just have to wait and see how people react to my response video.
“What about using A.I. for the voice acting?”
There are numerous ethical concerns regarding the use of A.I. to generate assets for video games. I believe it’s something that I should avoid.
“Will you still hold a crowdfunding campaign?”
If the Internet has been convinced that I’m a child groomer, then there’s no longer any point in holding a crowdfunding campaign; it won’t get any support. Hopefully, my response video up above will change that perception of me. It’s too early to make a meaningful decision on whether or not to plan a crowdfunding campaign.
“Would you be willing to sell the game to a company?”
I am not convinced that this is an option. I am not aware if there are any companies interested in purchasing the Yandere Simulator intellectual property. If a company contacts me and makes an offer, I may be willing to negotiate with them if I believe that it’s in the best interest of the project’s future. However, I find it difficult to determine the likelihood of this happening.
“What happened to your Discord account?”
On October 3rd, my Discord account was disabled. Discord did not send me an e-mail explaining why. I submitted several support tickets asking for help, but Discord did not respond to any of them. I didn’t know if it was temporary or permanent, so I decided not to make any public announcements about the situation until I had more information. After 30 days, my account was automatically deleted.
On November 2nd, I made a second Discord account. It was disabled on November 6th. Again, I did not receive an e-mail from Discord explaining why. I acknowledged the possibility that I was permanently banned and no longer allowed to use Discord’s services.
However, I made another account on December 6th, and it still hasn’t been disabled. Does this mean that I’m not actually banned from Discord? Or, does this mean that they simply haven’t noticed my new account yet? I don’t know what conclusion to draw. I wish they’d actually talk to me and explain the reasoning for disabling my accounts, instead of leaving me in the dark.
The most obvious explanation is that someone working at Discord saw the video falsely accusing me of being a groomer, perceived me as a threat to children on their platform, and banned me. However, I’m not actually a predator of any sort, so I don’t think that I deserve to lose access to Discord. I hope that my current Discord account will be permitted to continue existing. I would like to resume speaking regularly in the Official Yandere Simulator Discord server at some point in the future. However, for the time being, I will primarily be active on the Guilded server.
“What happened to your Twitch account?”
You’re about to get deja vu, because the Twitch story is almost identical to the Discord story.
On October 30th, my Twitch account was indefinitely suspended. Twitch did not provide me with any kind of explanation regarding the decision. The suspension came as a massive surprise to me, because I hadn’t been active on Twitch for several months. I submitted an appeal and asked for information, but they rejected my appeal without providing any reasoning.
Again, the most obvious explanation is that someone working at Twitch saw the video falsely accusing me of being a child predator and suspended me for what they believed to be unacceptable “off-platform conduct.” The only thing I can do at this point is pray that someone who works for Twitch will watch my response video, understand that I’m not actually a threat to children, and lift my suspension.
If Twitch refuses to communicate with me or let me use their platform, then I’ll have no choice but to migrate to a different streaming platform. I will most likely choose the streaming platform called “Kick” because of it’s similarities to Twitch. You can find my Kick channel here.
“Why has the game been in development for 9 years?”
Yandere Simulator became the type of game that is regularly updated with new content. I decided that developing an ever-expanding, ever-improving game would be more meaningful than implementing 9 specific characters, so I chose to prioritize releasing regular updates instead of working on the rival characters who were announced in 2016. I’ve written a lot of words about this topic.
However, at this point in time, I’ve finished going down the checklist of all the additions that I wanted to make to the game, and I am now ready to shift my attention from “regular updates” to “finishing Ayano’s story mode.” That will be my focus in 2024.
“When can we expect a new build to be released?”
January 5th.
I usually release new builds when the clock strikes midnight (in my timezone), but this build specifically will be released sometime in the morning or afternoon (in my timezone). I’m sorry that I can’t be more specific than that.
“What’s coming in the next update?”
- Custom Mode – An interface that allows you to build your own story mode. You get to design the protagonist, Senpai, rivals, and cutscenes. You can share the story mode you’ve created with others. There’s also a “Randomize” feature that instructs the game to generate a 10-week story mode for you to play through. Technically, this feature means that Yandere Simulator now has “infinite rivals.”
- An “Alternate Timeline” for 1980s Mode where Ryoba can avoid being accused of murder and confess her feelings to Jokichi.
- The ability to build a relationship with your Senpai as his “anonymous secret admirer.”
- The ability to select difficulty options before starting a new save file.
- A new system for socializing with students.
- A new “Drop Sandbag” murder method.
- An updated school environment.
- Mission Mode for 1980s Mode.
- A new inventory screen.
- Two new easter eggs.
- A new feature called “Dreams.” I’ll explain in my next blog post.
Closing Thoughts
Over the past 3 months, a lot of people reached out to me to extend words of encouragement and support. I’m eternally grateful for that. Despite everything that has happened, there is still a significant number of people who understand that I’m not a bad guy, remain fans of my work, and want to see the game continue to grow. I can’t express how much this means to me; it gives me hope that I still have a future. Those are the people who matter the most to me, and those are the people who I’m going to focus on from now on.
Thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator.