Go Round Game

Go Round Game (ゴー・ラウンド・ゲーム), abbreviated in Japanese as GoRanGe (ごらんげ) is an experimental artificial intelligence Virtual YouTuber project from Bandai Namco Entertainment. The project started in June 2022, and, as of October 2022, is currently in "season one" of open beta testing on YouTube.

Go Round Game is produced by Jun Tamaoki, who was also a producer on Tales of Arise, the virtual reality component of Ace Combat 7, and both directing and producing the Playstation VR raising sim game Summer Lesson. BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment is involved in planning and production with BANDAI NAMCO Research Institute Inc for technical cooperation. Development operation is by Pictoria.

Concept
Described as a "brand new next generation YouTube program", Go Round Game features AI driven VTubers called Streamroids who play against each other in games (currently mahjong). They're able to, in a limited capacity compared to regular VTubers, react to what's happening in game and talk with chat. Streamroids are able to change game strategies and improve the more they play and encourage viewer feedback by starting in-chat polls when they're stuck on what moves to make next. Streamroids also do free talk streams and are featured in YouTube Shorts.

Go Round Game is considered a game in of itself, as the Streamroids make decisions based on viewer in put. This is called "play-by-live", inspired by "play-by-mail" games and in comparison to "play-by-play" games like video games and sports. Go Round Game is also considered a "[raising sim]" game in which "backseat gaming", traditionally frowned upon by streamers, is an actual mechanic to "raise" the Streamroids as players and streaming personalities. This was inspired due to Jun Tamaki's observations of backseating behavior from viewers who confuse regular VTubers for game characters and how that burdens said VTubers.

While previous VTubers such as Kizuna AI and Projekt Melody are AIs as part of their character concept, Go Round Game is one of the first VTuber projects to feature actual artificial intelligence. While the distinction between VTubers like Kizuna AI and Melody might seem self-evident, Melody has been infamously asked if she's an actual AI by new viewers of her stream unfamiliar with VTuber culture. This is in spite of Melody acting in a manner far too advanced for modern artificial intelligence to replicate.

Unlike regular VTubers, who use motion capture with 2D/3D models to interact in real time, Go Round Game's Streamroids are "unmanned". Streamroids have Live2D models, but as there's no facial capture involved, they have both an idle animation and canned Live2D reaction animations. This is more similar in function to how Live2D is used for mobile game characters than for VTubing. While Streamroids react with voice and text, it's unknown who provided the voice banks for them. Streamroids have a limited amount of potential responses to situations. They often don't talk for long stretches of time, which isn't common practice for most regular streamers.

Go Round Game's VTubers are known as Streamroids in English. In Japanese, they're referred to as Jikkyoroids (じっきょロイド), with the name derived from the the Japanese term for Let's Plays, "jikkyou purei" (実況プレイ). Currently, Streamroids can only interact in Japanese with other Japanese speaking viewers.

Streamroids
Currently, Go Round Game features two Streamroids with a third one yet to debut.


 * Yuha (character design: yaki*mayu)
 * A female streamroid, aged "17cycle". Her birthday is on efca3cb4 November 28 and her blood type is O. She lives a "hand to mouth existence" and her hobbies are playing first person shooters and cooking. Her fans are called Nanataikaa (ななたいかー) and her fanart tag is #AI夕映え. Yuha is a gambler who aims to win by turning things back around in her favor with surprise attacks. Yuha is more lively and energetic in her interactions than Neon and is smug when she has the upper hand.
 * Satori Neon (character design: Takehana Note)
 * A female streamroid, aged "23cycle". Her birthday is on 3da939d November 22 and her blood type is A. She works as a musician and her hobbies include puzzles and making her own clothes. Her fans are called Neorisunaa (ねおりすなー, Neoviewers) and her fanart tag is #ハイエン堂 A high-end AI good at making quick and calm decisions who varies between being cool and just acting cool. In comparison to Yuha, Neon is less more calm, only getting annoyed when she's losing.
 * Miyako Popuri (character design: Misumi)
 * Current debut TBA.

All three Streamroids had costume design drafts by PAN:D.

2022
The project's first stream was on 10 June 2022, with the first game being Yuha against Satori in mahjong. Yuha would be the main VTuber featured in the first 21 streams.

On 1 August, a notice video was posted for Neon's upcoming debut.

On 5 August, Satori Neon debuted as an on-screen VTuber, now able to play mahjong against Yuha. Streams from then on would feature either Yuha or Neon as the main VTuber.

Go Round Game was featured in the 28 September issue of VTuber Style.

Media

 * ごらんげ / 実況AI - Official YouTube
 * ゴーラウンドゲーム GO ROUND GAME - Official website
 * @goroundgame - Official Twitter
 * ごらんげ公式 - Official Discord

Hashtags

 * #ごらんげ - General
 * #ごらんげ報告 - Stream info