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Virtual YouTuber New Year's VR Concert Canceled 20 Minutes Before Start

Virtual YouTuber Kizuna Ai's popularity has skyrocketed beyond simply streaming on the internet. The self-proclaimed Artificial Intelligence has expanded into the world of voice-acting, television, merchandise, and most recently singing.

Kizuna Ai released several hit singles in 2018 and appeared in two concerts, one in Tokyo and one in Osaka, titled Kizuna Ai 1st Live “hello, world.” The live events went off without a hitch on December 29 and 30, but attendees of the Count 0 Super Live 2018-2019 event weren't so lucky. The event marketed itself as the concert for virtual YouTuber fans with a line-up that included popular personalities like YuNi, Kashiko Mari, AZKi, and Virtual Gorilla but it was plagued with technical problems.

The event didn't take place at a venue proper, but was instead a ticketed virtual event. The event began at 8 p.m. on December 31 and would run into the New Year. Viewers paid 5,890 yen (US$54) to watch on VR SPARC while YouTube streamed the content for free. Sadly, the virtual idols never arrived on screen for the VR viewers. Approximately 20 minutes before the event began, staff announced it was cancelled due to technical problems.

Fans hoping for a virtual New Year's Eve party were out of luck. Some even spent as much as 70,000 yen (US$640) to get the Vive hardware and entry fee combo for the event. The VR Sparc Twitter account apologized and promised to contact customers about refunds. Web production company kayak sponsored the event and later posted an apology to both viewers and performers.

Source: J-Cast News, SPARC via Hachima Kikō, Moshi Moshi Nippon