A new law in Indonesia has shut the country off from major gaming services like Steam, Origin, and Epic Games over the weekend. The ban has left major VTubers from Hololive and NIJISANJI stranded, requiring massive schedule reshuffles.
The Indonesian government blocked a number of websites from operating in the country — including Steam, Origin, and Epic Games — via a new licensing law.
The websites were shut down for more than 270 million people after failing to register under the new rules which allow authorities to take down unlawful content on digital platforms within four hours if necessary.
While it’s had a wide-reaching impact on the entire country as a whole, some of VTubing’s biggest names found themselves scrambling to rejig their schedules, and even figure out new ways of streaming due to VTuber Studio being locked behind Steam.
Indonesia is one of the largest VTuber markets in the world, with NIJISANJI and Hololive hosting numerous generations totaling more than 20 talents in the region.
Hololive’s Airani Iofifteen just screamed out “God” in Bahasa Indonesia on Twitter after the block dropped, while NIJISANJI’s Siska Leontyne said she could get around the ban with a few settings changes: “I just wanted to test [if] my DNS was working or not, so basically I’m fine.”
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Ayunda Risu, however, was devastated she had to cancel her Euro Truck Simulator streams: “I can still access Steam on offline mode but at what cost?”
TUHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN pic.twitter.com/SvZFcw8gCI
— Airani iofifteen (イオフィ)🎨hololiveID (@airaniiofifteen) July 30, 2022
I can't go trucking 🙃
— Ayunda Risu (リス)🐿@ホロライブID (@ayunda_risu) July 30, 2022
Instead of licking their wounds though, the Indonesian talents adapted. Some gaming companies weren’t banned due to abiding by the new registration rules, including Riot Games. This led to plenty of Wild Rift streams over the weekend from the likes of Kobo Kanaeru.
Monster Hunter Rise was also popular as the game’s servers were not blocked in the South East Asian country.
As for when Hololive and NIJISANJI talents will be able to jump back onto Steam? That all depends when Valve registers through the government’s new laws — so it might be some time yet.