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

      In June, Love and Deepspace accumulated approximately $38 million across the App Store and Google Play. By July, this dropped to just over $10 million, according to a report from mobilegamer.biz citing Sensor Tower. The game plummeted to 16th place in the monthly gacha rankings, having consistently remained in the top five prior to this drop.

      When compared to its past performance, the situation appears even more dire. Since its launch, the game had never generated less than $30 million in a month, with July’s earnings at about one-third of that minimum and roughly one-sixth of what it earned in July the previous year.

      In the lead-up to July, the publisher took all the actions its most disgruntled players requested. Within eight days of announcing a new character, it reversed the decision. The publisher promised not to include any additional love interests, issued two apologies, and withdrew from China’s largest games convention. However, these concessions did not yield the desired results.

      Love and Deepspace is a 3D otome game developed by the Shanghai studio Papergames, which also operates under the overseas brand Infold since 2022. Otome games are romance titles primarily aimed at women. The game has achieved over 80 million downloads and has topped the App Store grossing charts in more than 40 countries.

      Moreover, it is not solely a product for the Chinese market as some reports implied. According to AppMagic, it earned approximately $933.7 million in its first two years, with about 60% coming from China, 13% from the U.S., and 9% from Japan. Notably, over 40% of its revenue originated from outside China, which becomes relevant later.

      On June 22, the studio introduced Valko, a werewolf and the sixth romanceable character. The reception was instantly polarized and quantifiable. On the Chinese platform showcasing all character trailers, Valko's video garnered 51,800 likes against 306,700 comments. In comparison, Caleb, the previous character, received 202,800 likes and 16,300 comments. Comments surpassing likes by a factor of six indicates a lack of enthusiasm.

      The English marketing campaign emphasized the predatory aspect rather than downplaying it; one trailer asked, “Who’s the prey?”, while another noted that in fairy tales, wolves are the hunters’ worst nightmare. Both trailers included giveaways, offering $50 each to five participants for following and reposting.

      As of June 30, Valko was removed, eliminating any chances of a seventh romanceable character. Caleb became the final love interest to be added to the game. Infold made both of Valko’s trailers unlisted on its official YouTube channel, Anime Corner reported. The 6.0 version of the game was released on schedule without him, and the menu slot that had previously indicated "coming soon" was simply left blank.

      The official site provides the same narrative. Its character section lists the cast one by one, each with a complete profile: Sylus, Caleb, Zayne, Rafayel, Xavier. Only five characters now appear, with no mention of a sixth.

      Western media typically reported this as Chinese players rejecting a character due to his foreign appearance. While that sentiment existed, it was a minor part of the story.

      Three marketing pieces were released within the same week. A kitchen feature was promoted with the line “absolutely do not bathe in the pot” over an image of a boiling pot. Players interpreted this against the backdrop of a 2024 femicide case in Shaanxi, where a man murdered his wife by forcing her into scalding broth—an incident that had become emblematic in discussions about domestic violence.

      Valko’s trailer featured the idiom 引狼入室, meaning to invite disaster by letting an enemy into one's home. His character was depicted climbing through the protagonist’s window at night and into her bed.

      The third piece was a file reference number. An archive code, A-0731, was found in a storyline about human experimentation. Unit 731 was an Imperial Japanese Army group notorious for conducting lethal experiments on Chinese civilians in occupied Harbin, a subject taught in schools and represented in a dedicated national museum. This code had been present in the game since a patch on April 21.

      The controversy escalated further when Infold claimed the number had no significance, replacing it with a new code, 0611. However, 0611 also pertains to a wartime atrocity. Players identified it with the Daojiao massacre, where Japanese forces used poison gas to kill over 260 civilians in Dongguan in 1941, a historical event that is well-known in China. Subsequent reporting by Chinese outlets, including Sina, covered the replacement soon after. The patch reached the Chinese version of the game, while the Japanese version retained the original number.

      This incident