On July 21st, 6,669-year-old demon queen Ironmouse posted an 11-minute video, explaining that she is leaving her talent management agency, VShojo. Ironmouse is a VTuber, or “virtual YouTuber,” which is a type of a streamer who doesn’t usually show their human face and creates elaborate digital personas to make content instead.
“I recently found out that for the past couple of months, I have been misled by VShojo,” she said in her video. “I believe that I am owed a significant amount of funds, which I have not been paid.”
With her pink hair, purple eyes, and horns, Ironmouse is one of Twitch’s biggest streamers. She currently has more than 2.3 million followers on Twitch and 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube. In 2023, she won a Game Award for content creator of the year. A year later, she briefly overtook Kai Cenat as the most subscribed to Twitch streamer, with more than 300,000 subs. Her VTuber colleagues at VShojo have follower counts in the hundreds of thousands across Twitch and YouTube. Now, in the aftermath of Ironmouse’s video, most of them have also quit the company, with some of them also alleging unpaid wages.
According to Ironmouse, her trouble with VShojo started with the conclusion of her 2024 subscription marathon on Twitch. During the event, Ironmouse raised more than $500,000 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation, a cause she explained was important to her as she — the real person behind the Ironmouse persona — suffers from common variable immunodeficiency, or CVID.
The Verge has reached out to VShojo, Ironmouse, and the Immune Deficiency Foundation for comment.
“Because the money came from my Twitch revenue … it required VShojo to make the donation on my behalf,” Ironmouse said in her video. She claims this has not been done and that’s why she’s decided to leave VShojo:
“And most importantly, the thing that hurts me the most is that the Immune Deficiency Foundation, which is the most important charity to me and also the reason why I’m here today, is owed over half a million dollars from VShojo … I really want to tell you everything, but unfortunately right now I have been instructed by my attorney to wait for more of the legal procedure to unfold. So one day I will be able to tell you the full story. But for now, I just need to let you know that I will no longer be a part of VShojo.“
“As of right now, I am an independent VTuber,” she said.
While a creator leaving a talent agency is nothing new, especially in the world of VTubers, the scope and scale of this departure has had a serious impact on both VShojo and the wider VTuber community. In the hours after Ironmouse released her video, 12 of the 13 VTubers listed on VShojo’s website have officially announced they are leaving the company.
On July 22nd, Kson, a yakuza-themed VTuber with 1.3 million followers on YouTube, did a livestream in which she announced that she, too, would be leaving the company, also alleging unpaid funds.
“And the reason why is because VShojo hasn’t paid a significant amount of money to me,” Kson said.
Most of the other VShojo members, who said they were leaving on their livestreams and social media, did not give explicit reasons why, suggesting that they aren’t able to due to legal reasons. Nearly all of them expressed heartbreak related to their departure and shock at Ironmouse’s treatment.
“Yes, I’m leaving VShojo,” Projekt Melody posted on X. “I put my everything into this comp[any]. But I’m beyond devastated at what happened. & I never in a million years thought I’d be saying these words.”
When VShojo was founded in 2020, it positioned itself as ”talent first” as a way to differentiate itself from other companies that had reputations for treating talent poorly. This attracted popular VTubers and huge numbers of fans.
VTubers operate similarly to Twitch streamers but can have extra expectations and constraints set upon them if they are corporately sponsored by talent agencies. To understand VTubers, it’s best to think of them as digital Japanese pop idols. Almost every aspect of a corporate VTuber — their sponsorships, social media accounts, finances, name, and more — is owned and controlled by their agency. In most circumstances, if a VTuber decides to go independent, then they have to leave every aspect of their persona behind, including all the channels attached to that persona, and start over from scratch. VShojo stood out as a company because its clients were not beholden to those terms.
“I’m actually shocked,” said Biggles, an artist and independent VTuber, who told The Verge that she’s been a fan of VShojo talent since the company’s beginning. “VShojo was a dream for many.”
Ironmouse’s dream for the Immune Deficiency Foundation lives on, however. After posting her announcement video as her usual persona, she initiated a donation drive to replace the allegedly unpaid funds. Through her community, her former VShojo colleagues, and their communities, they’ve raised almost $1 million.
