A billion-dollar game removed a character in just 8 days, leading to its worst month ever.

      In June, Love and Deepspace generated around $38 million from the App Store and Google Play. In July, revenue dropped to just over $10 million, according to mobilegamer.biz, referencing Sensor Tower. The game fell to 16th place in the monthly gacha rankings, having previously stayed within the top five.

      When compared to its historical performance, the situation looks even worse. Since its launch, the game had never earned less than $30 million in a month. July's earnings amounted to about a third of that minimum, and only one-sixth of what it made in July of the previous year.

      Between those two months, the publisher addressed the demands of its most disgruntled players. It canceled a character just eight days after announcing it, pledged not to introduce another love interest, issued two apologies, and withdrew from the largest gaming convention in China. These concessions highlight the issue but also reveal that they failed to produce the desired outcome.

      The character cancellation occurred just eight days after its introduction. Love and Deepspace is a 3D otome game developed by the Shanghai studio Papergames. Outside of China, it operates under the international brand Infold, established by the studio in 2022. Otome games are romance-focused titles aimed at female players. The game has surpassed 80 million downloads and has topped the App Store grossing chart in over 40 countries.

      Contrary to some coverage, it is not a product exclusive to China. AppMagic estimates that it earned approximately $933.7 million in its initial two years, with around 60% from China, 13% from the United States, and 9% from Japan. This means over 40% of the revenue came from outside China, which is significant later on.

      On June 22, the studio revealed Valko, a werewolf and the sixth romanceable character. The announcement met with mixed reception, which was quantifiable. On the Chinese platform hosting all three character trailers, Valko's video received 51,800 likes against 306,700 comments. In contrast, Caleb, the previous character, garnered 202,800 likes alongside 16,300 comments. The ratio of comments to likes at six to one indicates a lack of enthusiasm.

      The English marketing embraced the predatory theme rather than steering clear of it. One trailer posed the question, “Who’s the prey?” while a second noted that in every fairy tale, hunters are the biggest threat to wolves. Both promotions featured giveaways, offering $50 each to five participants for a follow and a repost.

      By June 30, Valko was removed, eliminating any chance of a seventh character. Caleb now stands as the last love interest the game will feature. Infold set both of Valko’s trailers to unlisted on its official YouTube channel, according to Anime Corner. Version 6.0 launched as scheduled without him, and the menu slot that had previously read “coming soon” is now simply empty.

      The official website reflects this situation. Its character section displays the cast one at a time, each with a detailed profile: Sylus, Caleb, Zayne, Rafayel, Xavier—five characters in total, with no sixth character listed.

      The objections raised were not entirely what Western media reported. It was largely described as Chinese players rejecting a character for appearing too foreign, which was partly accurate but by no means the whole story.

      Three marketing pieces were released in the same week. One promoted a kitchen feature with the phrase “absolutely do not bathe in the pot,” alongside an image of a boiling pot. Players associated this with a 2024 femicide case in Shaanxi, where a man killed his wife by forcing her head into scalding broth. That incident had already entered public discourse as part of a broader conversation about domestic violence.

      Valko’s trailer employed the idiom 引狼入室, which translates to inviting the wolf inside, implying that one brings disaster upon themselves by allowing an enemy in. His character was depicted as entering the protagonist’s home at night.

      The third item was a file number. An archive code, A-0731, was visible on a document in a storyline about human experimentation. Unit 731 was a notorious Imperial Japanese Army unit responsible for conducting lethal experiments on Chinese civilians in occupied Harbin, a subject covered extensively in education and memorialized in a national museum. This code had been present in the game since an update on April 21.

      The company's fix was what ended the debate. Infold stated the number was a fictional date and intended as a meaningless placeholder, promising to change it immediately. They acknowledged that the incident pointed to “insufficient sensitivity” among some staff and committed to enhancing training and internal review processes. They argued that the kitchen statement was horror-themed promotional material and ultimately withdrew it.

      Moreover, they denied that Valko was specifically tailored for foreign markets, labeling the notion that the game