Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Project Kavvaii, the VTuber arm of airasia, has announced that its remaining VTuber talents, Airi Gwynevere and Mikazuki Mai, will be retiring their online activities on March 31. The announcement was made officially via the VTuber project’s official X (Twitter) account.
According to the announcement, both talents will effectively strop streaming content by April 1, with their respective YouTube memberships and Streamlabs pages closed immediately as well. It is also worth noting however that their recently-released webtoon series titled “Lunetide Bewitched” will continue to release new episodes up until it is finished by end of season.
In an exclusive conversation with MARKETECH APAC, Project Kavvaii said that the decision was made by airasia to not renew the talent’s contracts due to changes in the company’s direction.
“The team will continue with other IP development projects. However, Project Kavvaii will not be so active, and we do not foresee taking in any additional talents anytime soon,” Project Kavvaii stated.
Despite the departure of the talents behind these VTubers, the agency said that their IP will remain in the Project Kavvaii ecosystem. Its team will continue working on projects outside of the VTuber project initiative, hinting that the initiative will not shut down completely.
With this, airasia’s Project Kavvaii would no longer have active VTuber talents in its roster. Its first-ever talent, Aozora Kurumi, ceased her VTubing activities in August 2022. Airi Gwynevere and Mikazuki Mai debuted as part of the agency’s Lunetide generation in April 2022.
The recent announcement is a far cry from the optimism airasia had back then when they started the Project Kavvaii initiative. In an exclusive interview with then-chief brand officer Rudy Khaw, he stated how VTubers had allowed them to tap into a new demographic that could potentially be new customers.
“As a digital company, the constant change in the way people consume online content drives us to explore cross-industry innovations with Project Kavvaii to stay relevant and ahead of trends,” Khaw stated back then.
Moreover, this new update comes in line with significant changes in the airasia ecosystem, with its airasia MOVE offering now offering a rebranded look, as well as its low-cost airline company Capital A announcing a business combination agreement with Aetherium Acquisition to enter listing in the United States.
