Love and Deepspace Cancels New Character After Female Players Complain… A LOT

Female fans really take their husbandos seriously! Love and Deepspace and Valko have become the center of attention after an incident that will likely go down in gacha game history. Papergames officially announced the cancellation and termination of development for the new character, Valko, just a few days after revealing him to the public.

Love and Deepspace Cancels New Character After Female Players Complain… A LOT

Papergames published an open letter to players apologizing for the situation involving Valko, who was supposed to become the sixth love interest in the popular action RPG with otome elements.

According to the company, after reviewing community feedback and holding extensive internal discussions, it decided to completely cancel the character’s release, as well as halt all future development related to him.

In addition, the developer stated that it has no plans to add any new love interests to the game in the future, choosing instead to focus on the five existing protagonists.

What caused the controversy?

Well, the entire situation is quite murky. Apparently, the biggest reason is political. Some players suspect there was a coordinated attack, while others believe the explanation is much simpler. Let’s try to understand what happened.

Part of the community was concerned that introducing a sixth character would reduce the narrative focus on the current love interests, some of whom have already been receiving very few story updates.

Within the Chinese community, criticism also emerged regarding Valko’s appearance. Some female players claimed that Valko looked “too feminine,” while others argued that the entire controversy was actually driven by political reasons

Some details of his story were believed to reference the infamous Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Since July 1 marks the anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, many players interpreted this as a provocation. The game’s developers later changed the number to 611 in the story, which only fueled the controversy even further.

Another point of criticism was a scene in which Valko allegedly breaks into the female protagonist’s home, something that some players described as trivializing women’s safety. Apparently, the situation escalated so much that police officers were stationed outside the developer’s office building to ensure that nothing happened.

Following the backlash, the game’s official social media accounts also experienced a noticeable loss of followers.

Papergames apologizes to players

In its letter to the community, Papergames acknowledged that it announced Valko before the right time and admitted that it ended up disappointing both longtime players and those who had been eagerly waiting for the character’s arrival.

As compensation, the company will distribute several items originally planned for Version 6.0 free of charge, including outfits, photo poses, backgrounds, and anniversary rewards.

Additionally, for 30 consecutive days, every player who logs in will receive one Deepspace Wish daily through the in-game mailbox.

However, there is one statement from the developers that raises concerns about the future of Love and Deepspace. They confirmed that they will not introduce any more new love interests, meaning the game will remain with its current five forever… Can you imagine that for a gacha game? Having only five characters for its entire lifespan?

Despite the criticism that led to Valko’s cancellation, many female players were disappointed by the decision.

Several fans said they had already been saving resources to pull for Valko once he was released. In fact, part of the community even started a petition asking for the character to be restored to the game.

Some users suggested that Valko could still be released exclusively on the global servers, since most of the backlash reportedly came from the Chinese community. However, so far, Papergames has shown no intention of pursuing that option.

A campaign on Change.org was created asking for the character to return. At the time of writing this article, the petition has over 70,000 signatures. However, there is another petition on iPetitions that has already surpassed 160,000 signatures.

Sources: Automaton, Sankaku Complex, Love and Deepspace Twitter/X, and several YouTubers covering the controversy.