VSPO!



VSPO! (ぶいすぽっ!), an abbreviation of "Virtual eSports Project", is an esports-focused agency that houses multiple esports teams: Lupinus Virtual Games (LVG), Iris Black Games (IBG), and Cattleya Regina Games (CRG) as well as several solo members.

The agency is operated by Virtual Entertainment Inc, which itself since 2022 is owned by the holding company Brave Group.

As of December 2022, the agency has in total more than 5 million subscribers on YouTube, making it the third most subscribed VTuber agency in Japan after hololive production and NIJISANJI.

History
The first members of Lupinus Virtual Games (LVG) are the Kaga sisters, Kaga Nazuna (debuted in 11 October 2018) and Kaga Sumire (debuted in 12 October 2018). VSPO! Twitter account was created in January 2019, while their first tweet was on 4 January. Their official website open on 25 Desember 2020.

2019
On 17 April, VSPO! announced the third member of LVG, Kogara Toto.

On 20 April, the last member of LVG, Ichinose Uruha, made her debut.

2020
On 7 February, VSPO! announced a new team: Iris Black Games (IBG).

On 14 March, the first member of IBG, Kurumi Noah, made her debut.

On 2 July, VSPO! announced a new team, Cattleya Regina Games (CRG).

On 4 July, the first member of CRG, Tosaki Mimi, made her debut.

On 16 July, the second member of CRG, Asumi Sena, made her debut.

On 14 August, the second member of IBG, Tachibana Hinano, made her debut.

On 15 August, the last Member of CRG, Hanabusa Lisa, made her debut

On 18 October, the last member of IBG, Kisaragi Ren, made her debut.

2021
On 9 January, VSPO! announced an affiliation with ex-Busokanojo member Kaminari Qpi as solo member.

On 16 April, Yakumo Beni made her debut as a solo member.

On 9 June, VSPO! celebrated reaching 1 million total subscribers of all its member.

On 14 September, VSPO! announced the addition of Aizawa Ema to the roster. She made her debut on 18 September as a solo member.

On 23 September, VSPO! announced the addition of Shinomiya Runa to the roster. She made her debut on 26 September as a solo member.

On 27 September, VPSO! released a statement article in relation to Yakumo Beni's VALORANT smurfing controversy.

VALORANT smurfing controversy
On 29 September, Riot Games's Japanese management team released a statement on VALORANT ' s Japanese official Twitter account, announcing that it was detected that several members of teams that are participating the VALORANT VICTORY CHALLENGE tournament scheduled for the following day, namely from VSPO!, Crazy Raccoon and ZETA DIVISION, were using smurf accounts to increase their co-players' rank using competitive mode, as well as being involved in a game with them; according to the statement, while these acts does not necessarily violate the Terms of Service of VALORANT, both of which are still considered highly discouraged acts, as it breaks the impartiality in competition.

VSPO!'s management team also revealed the details on the issue, in which Yakumo Beni had a contact with Rion (Crazy Raccoon), who confirmed that he would join Beni's game after her invitation on Twitter; and later joined by Zepher (also from Crazy Raccoon). After several matches, they were joined by another Crazy Raccoon member, Francisco, and CR Ojiji, the CEO of the team. It was later discovered that all members of Crazy Raccoon involved, minus CR Ojiji, were using smurf accounts.

Later on the same day, both VSPO! and Crazy Raccoon released their respective reports on their investigations regarding the issue, and both teams announced to take several measures:


 * Both Yakumo Beni and Zepher's activities would be suspended for a month.
 * It was discovered that Kaga Sumire was also invited by Rion to play VALORANT once, despite Sumire usually not playing the game, and Rion was using his smurf account in the match. Sumire's activities would be suspended for two weeks.
 * CR Ojiji would take a fifteen-percent cut in salary for a year, and delete all accounts for the game.
 * Rion was discovered to be letting his brother playing on his account multiple times. His activities would be suspended for three months, and he would delete all accounts for the game.
 * Francisco was only given a warning from Crazy Raccoon, as he did not use smurf accounts habitually.
 * It was announced that Crazy Raccoon received a report from Amatsuki, an utaite (internet singer) and streamer who joined the team in July 2021, saying that he was also involved in a match that his co-players were using smurf accounts. Like Francisco, he was only given a warning from the team, as he had limited knowledge on eSports and was still inexperienced as a competitive player.
 * All involved talents' pre-existing and newly created accounts would be under inspections by the management team for VSPO! and a third-party inspection committee led by lawyers for Crazy Raccoon for a year.

Both teams apologized for inconveniences and disturbances caused by the controversy, and announced that they would strive to avoid further similar issues.

On 10 November, VSPO! announced their new official channel on Niconico.

On 16 November, VSPO! members' Youtube subscribers count reached 2 million in total.

On 27 November, VSPO! held their first project on Niconico, "Final Battle to Decide the Remote Bistro Queen" (リモートビストロクイーン決定戦). It was hosted by member Kisaragi Ren and Neo-Porte's Shirayuki Reid, with Tonakaito (a streamer) as the remote chef. All members participated in this project and were made into three groups.

On 17 December, VSPO! held their second project on Niconico, "Ideal Christmast Date Show" (理想のクリスマスデート品評会). It was hosted by indie Vtuber Virtual Gorilla with Guilty (a streamer) as guest. Members who participated in this project were Tachibana Hinano, Hanabusa Lisa, and Kaminari Qpi.

On 24 December, VSPO! as a whole (except for the 2 new members) released a song cover of halyosy's Blessing in commemorative of VSPO! members' two millions youtube subscribers in total.

On 29 December, VSPO! had a collaboration event with GEO, "Who is the Number 1 Gamer in VSPO!" (ぶいすぽっ！令和3年最後の特別企画ゲームNo.1は誰だ！). It was hosted by casters Taiga Kishi and OooDa.

On 30 December, VSPO! held an event sponsored by Riot Games, a VALORANT match between VSPO Team vs Caster Team.

2022
On 18 January, VSPO! held their third project on Niconico, "Remote Hot Spring Tour" (リモート温泉 見学旅) with Tonakaito (a streamer) as the tour guide and Shibuya HAL (Neo-Porte) as the guest host. Members who participated in this project were Aizawa Ema, Kaga Nazuna, and Kurumi Noah.

On 19 February, VSPO! held their fourth project on Niconico, "VSPO! Remote Stylist" (ぶいすぽっ！リモートスタイリスト) with Nyantako (an illustrator and streamer) as the host and Alelu (DTN) as the model. Members who participated in this project were Tosaki Mimi, Yakumo Beni, Kisaragi Ren, and Shinomiya Runa.

On 17 March, VSPO! held their fifth project on Niconico, "VSPO! Quiz Derby 2022" (ぶいすぽっ！クイズダービー2022) with Taiga Kishi as the host and Kaminari Qpi as his co-host. Members who participated in this project were Aizawa Ema, Asumi Sena, Hanabusa Lisa, and Kaga Sumire while the guests were Arisaka (CR), Utai Meika, Shirayuki Reid, and Gorilla.

On 7 April, VSPO! members' Youtube subscribers count reached 3 millions in total.

On June 7, Brave Group announced the acquisition of Virtual Entertainment Inc. the company behind VSPO!. Although the business management department and system department will be integrated, the business operation will be operated independently with the discretion of each company as before. After this, Brave Group will be the holding company of Virtual Entertainment which will continue to manage VSPO!.

On 21 June, Nekota Tsuna made her debut as the fifth solo member. Her first stream was held on 24 June.

On 22 August, VSPO! announced the addition of their sixth solo member, Shiranami Ramune to the roster. She made her debut on 25 August 2022.

On 31 December, VSPO! announced their decision to change their logo by releasing a PV. On the same day, they also released a short version of their upcoming new original song MV called 「for Victory!」 which will be released mid February 2023.

2023
On 24 January, VSPO! announced the opening of audition for their new training program "VSPO! Kenkyuusei Seido" (研究生制度開始, VSPO! Research Student System), which would make an additional pathway to be a VSPO! member other than direct recruitment.

On 26 January, 774 inc. and VSPO!'s Twitter accounts announced that Komori Met would graduate from the former on 31 January and join the latter on 1 February.

On 18 February, VSPO! released the full version of their original song, 「for Victory!」. The song was written/composed by Hige Driver.

On 27 February, VSPO! announced the collaboration with Pacific Racing Team for the current season of SUPER GT.

On 13 March, VSPO! announced the collaboration with Curry Meshi-kun, a cup noodle brand.

On 8 May, VSPO! announced 3D unveiling schedule for the members except Shiranami Ramune and Komori Met, whose 3D models are still in the work. The 3D unveiling will be on 12 May (Noah, Lisa, Sumire), 22 May (Uruha, Ema, Runa), 2 June (Mimi, Beni, Ren), 9 June (Nazuna, Toto, Hinano), and 17 June (Tsuna, Sena, Qpi).

On 18 June, VSPO! announced that independent Twitch streamer Koimeno Akarin (濃いめのあかりん) would join VSPO! as a new member and debut as Yumeno Akari (夢野あかり). Her debut stream would be held on 21 June at 20:00 JST.

On 12 August, VSPO! announced at the summer comiket of this year and hours later on Twitter, that it has opened its first overseas branches: VSPO! EN, focused in the English speaking market, and VSPO! CN focused in the Chinese market are the branches chosen in its expansion. Auditions for both were opened in the same day.

On 5 September, VSPO! EN officially opened their audition for its first generation.

On 21 November, VSPO! announced that Yano Kuromu would join the roster as the ninth solo member. Her debut stream would be held on 24 November 2023.