Love and Deepspace Cancels Sixth Male Lead Valko After Player Backlash
Love and Deepspace Cancels Sixth Male Lead Valko After Heavy Chinese Player Backlash
Papergames is facing major criticism after Love and Deepspace, the company’s popular romance mobile game, received strong backlash from many Chinese players following the reveal of its sixth male lead, Valko, also known by his Chinese name Ao Yin.
The controversy has grown beyond online discussions, with some protests reportedly moving into the real world. According to the source article, the game’s official social media accounts in China also lost more than 1 million followers combined across several platforms.
The issue surrounding Valko had been building for around a week, starting from his first reveal on June 22. The character, presented as a werewolf, quickly became a point of criticism among Chinese players because his appearance was seen as noticeably different from the five existing male leads.
Some players pointed to his more Western-inspired concept, including the werewolf theme and his tall, muscular build. While some fans were open to the new direction, the voices opposing the character became much louder.
Beyond his appearance, many players also raised concerns about the game’s content direction. Some felt that Love and Deepspace had gone quiet for too long when it came to both the main story and the individual side stories of the existing male leads.
Because of that, many players were unhappy that Papergames chose to introduce a new male character instead of continuing the stories of the characters that fans had already followed, supported, and spent money on.
Valko’s story details also became another source of criticism. Based on what had been revealed, Valko holds an executive position at EonCore Tech, a company connected to EVER Group, which is associated with the game’s antagonist side.
While the full nature of that relationship has not yet been revealed, some players were already uncomfortable with the connection. The reveal video also showed Valko entering the heroine’s home and greeting her from the balcony.
This led some players to interpret Valko as a disturbing figure who entered someone’s home at night without permission. The situation was then connected by some fans to real-world concerns involving men breaking into the homes of women living alone at night.
Players also dug into the main story’s earlier hints about Valko’s existence. According to the source article, Valko had previously been referenced as an experimental subject with the code A-0731.
This number became highly sensitive in the Chinese historical context because of its association with Unit 731 during World War II. The source article notes that this caused further anger among Chinese players, who felt that painful national history had been handled inappropriately.
With these combined issues, the backlash from Chinese players did not remain limited to social media. Some protesters reportedly responded by placing cow dung inside the company’s parcel lockers.
White and yellow chrysanthemums were also placed near the company building, along with curse messages and symbolic items such as sticky rice and pomelo leaves. According to the source article, these were used to express mourning for the company and to symbolically drive away bad luck or cleanse negative energy.
The company building also had a display sign featuring Valko, which became part of the protest target. As a result, Papergames reportedly increased security measures around the building.
The backlash eventually led Papergames to suspend Valko’s planned arrival in the game, which was originally scheduled for July 9.
An official announcement was also shared through the game’s global publishing channel by Infold Games. The main message confirmed that Valko-related content would be cancelled, while other parts of Update 6.0, including Home 2.0 and AR Photobooth, would still be released as planned.
The announcement also stated that the team would shift its focus toward continuing the stories of the five main characters, as well as the game’s main story.
In particular, the stories of Caleb and Sylus were mentioned as content planned for September and November respectively.
Compensation was also announced for players. This includes costumes, poses, photo scenes, Nighthush Box from the Hunt in Linkon event, and free Deepspace Wish tickets for 30 days.
The team also apologized, saying that its decision had caused distress to players who love the game. They expressed hope that they would continue walking this path together with the players.
However, after the announcement was released, many global players who had been excited about the arrival of a new male lead expressed disappointment and sadness over the decision.
Some global fans felt that heavily promoting Valko and then removing him could be seen as misleading to consumers, especially because both returning and new players had decided to play because of him.
Others argued that the company was favoring Chinese players too much while disregarding the global fanbase that had also been waiting for Valko.
In response, some players started a petition campaign asking the company to bring Valko back. According to the source article, the petition had already passed 100,000 signatures at the time of reporting.
There are also players suggesting that the company should separate the Chinese and Global servers entirely to avoid similar problems in the future. For some fans, this controversy has become significant enough to make that route worth considering if the company ever decides to bring Valko into the game after all.
For now, fans will have to wait and see what happens next with Valko, the sixth male lead of Love and Deepspace.
Love and Deepspace is available as a free-to-play mobile game on Android and iOS.
The Valko controversy shows how delicate character-driven live service games can become when different player communities expect different things from the same title. For SEA players and global fans, the bigger question now is whether Love and Deepspace can balance regional sensitivities, existing character investment, and worldwide player expectations without creating a deeper divide.
