Just a week after Papergames revealed Valko as the sixth Love and Deepspace love interest, the studio has released an apology statement, cancelling his addition to the game entirely. Not only that, but the studio also says "no additional love interests will be introduced in future content plans." So that's it. We're not getting any more boys.
It has been a rough week in the otome game community, as Love and Deepspace's latest hunky husbando - or rather, the attention that he's taking away from existing LaDS characters - faced unprecedented levels of online backlash. The majority of this negativity came from the game's Chinese audience on Weibo, as fans of all five existing male leads banded together in protest. Feedback ranged from criticism of Valko's Western design clashing with the more traditional features of the existing love interests to complaints of a new character taking writing resources away from the team and his impact on gacha pull rates.
These players make some valid points, as Caleb's main story hasn't been updated in over 500 days, leaving his fans feeling discarded and betrayed. As well as the hundreds of thousands of replies on his announcement post, Love and Deepspace has lost over one million followers across its Chinese social media platforms as a result. Sadly, the protests have bled into the real world, with disappointed fans placing cow dung, funeral flowers, and curse banners outside Papergames' offices.
Today, Love and Deepspace's X account posted a lengthy apology stating that Valko is no longer coming to the game, and his removal seemingly marks the end of new Love and Deepspace characters, as the devs abandon plans for additional male leads. On top of this, you can grab loads of free resources as an apology for the entire situation, showing Papergames' "focus on further developing the stories and long-term companionship experiences of our five existing love interests."
However, while this change might be able to act as damage control for those against Valko's addition, he wasn't universally hated. Several global fans have replied to the statement, sharing their disappointment and pleading with the devs to still add him to the global version of the game. One X user, @dovngel, who has since made her account private, said, "We've bought packs to prepare for his debut, what about our money?" This isn't the first time that Love and Deepspace's parent company, InFold Games, has fumbled the bag with a gacha game, so I'm not that surprised by this outcome, but I am sad for those who wanted to meet this edgy wolf boy.
What did you think about Valko? Let us know in the Pocket Tactics Discord server, and check out our Love and Deepspace codes guide to grab some free currency for all the other version 6.0 events.