i’ve been scrolling through rednote/xhs recently because of the whole valko thing, and what at first appeared to be a studio making one stupid decision after another… might not be the whole story. a lot of cn players who wanted valko or were simply neutral to him are seeing piling evidence that a good portion of the backlash against valko on the domestic side might have been started/co-oped by paid trolls or bots hired by paper games/infold’s main competitor: the studio behind the upcoming silent whispers.
infold/papergames stood firm that valko was part of the long term plan of their game even after haters sent literal shit to their office and harassed staff… until the chinese news media started talking about the controversy—in particular 731, and valko apparently breaking and entering, and attacking mc. media even edited scenes from the trailer to look particularly condemning. immediately after, papergames did a 180 and put out the statement that the debut was canceled… and went silent.
since then, the media has only continued to run stories about valko/lads. very negative stories. and negative stories/trends keep popping up on weibo/xhs. all the while, silent whispers has been upping their advertising.
from a lot of cn playes’ perspective, this looks like a smear campaign by silent whispers to bring lads down and bring the disaffected fans over to their game. i even saw an add on xhs from silent whispers that was like “want a game like love and deepspace? play our game instead!” suspicious… especially since lads is no longer going to bilibili world… and silent whispers is. even though sw only really seems to have concepts of a game? it’s just been vague trailers of three uncanny valley pixel men staring at the camera? also, interestingly enough, there was a trend on weibo about lads pulling out of BW and leaving players on the hook for all the money they spent on tickets/hotels/etc…like a day before papergames announced that they were dropping out AND reimbursing people. kinda seems like a paid hit piece that dropped a little too soon.
paid trolls, bots, an onslaught of negative news coverage, negative stories and trends on social media… seems like someone is spending a lot of money to see lads fail. and I doubt it’s a group of high school girls who hate a character because they’re too parasocial about their main. does a group of immature bullies really have the power to bring in the media? the government, if rumors are to be believed?
of course, papergames is not free from blame. they have been consistently ignoring players valid criticisms. they are terrible with communication. perhaps if they had treated their players better, so many wouldn’t have been so quick to jump ship… to their competitor.
i do find it odd papergames has been so quiet since. they haven’t put out a statement defending themselves. they’ve not addressed the players who have been vocal about wanting valko back. you would think releasing valko could dispel all those negative rumors about his storyline and make those who wanted him happy. and not waste years of development. and recoup some losses financially. their silence seems so stupid. unless they can’t say anything? are there legal proceedings behind the scenes keeping them silent? Or are they really just that arrogant/incompetent?
yes, this is speculation in part. but it’s born from facts and logic.
i should probably stop caring, but it’s like a train wreck i can’t look away from.
and selfishly i want lads to make a comeback. i enjoyed the game. and i hope lads can learn from this and do better in the future for all its players. i’ve stopped playing, and if they ever release a statement or something changes, i’ll reevaluate. i think boycotting is the right move. they need to know their player base is unhappy, and hitting them in the financials is a language any business understands. and i want valko back! i was excited for his release. so i’ll keep a little spark of hope alive. what is hope going to cost me? some potential disappointment? i’ll pay it.
让小狼回家吧！！！
