IFI Had Otome Fans Waiting Through an Hour of Elevator Music Before Livestreaming 2-Minute Trailer

Publisher Idea Factory International seemed to have a bit of fun with otome fans during an early livestream on Valentine’s Day. The publisher teased an otome game announcement to air at 6 am PT on their YouTube channel.

However, instead of featuring the trailer, the publisher had viewers sit through an hour of music and static before the actual trailer began. Throughout the livestream new words on screen would appear, such as “Welcome to the Show” and “Welcome to Your Show.” before ending with “Ready to Meet the Cast?”

This entire event led to the reveal of Charade Maniacs where players take on the role of Hiyori Sena, a high school sophomore who has been abducted by a masked figure. Trapped in the mysterious world of Arcadia with nine others, she is forced by her captor to act in dramas alongside the other abductees.

However, fans were not happy about having to wait, with Twitter users sharing:

I'm glad for the game and everything, but who thoughts that would be a good idea? Please don't do that again. It was little more than a waste of over an hour of our time.

— Smudjygirl (@Smudjygirl) February 14, 2023

I want to talk to your marketing department. Just talk, I promise.

— Shinsengumis (@elwin_grey) February 14, 2023

Disrespectfully, don't try this tactic ever again please

— eri (@fakerytaleh) February 14, 2023

Respectfully, please do not do this again. It was honestly upsetting (and a bit insulting) to otome game players.
We really appreciate that the game is getting a localization, but the majority of the stream was a huge waste of time, especially –

— ヘナ ☆ nirvanai hell (@APPLEJUSTlCE) February 14, 2023

Others shared their reaction on the YouTube video, shared below.

I personally thought it was funny, but this is probably not the group of fans that would appreciate time-wasting humor. Otome fans are a dedicated bunch with a good memory, and a lot of passion, so this might not have been the best approach. I’d say, leave the jokes to the Nep streams since those fans would be the better audience for this type of marketing.

Charade Maniacs is coming to Nintendo Switch in the Summer of 2023.

You can watch the entire stream below:

Update: Idea Factory International shared an explanation and apology for the way they announced the game via Twitter:

Hey everyone. Just wanted to check in with everyone about the Charade Maniacs stream we did today. We were reading some comments from the fans and it seems like today’s reveal was unsettling for some. We wanted to use some of the cryptic motifs and themes from CM in this “show” we prepared for the announcement, but we should have been more clear on when the announcement would occur. That is on us. If you were let down by the stream this morning, we hope you can still be excited about the game AND upcoming LE announcement. We take our otome fans seriously, and we hope our efforts in bringing high quality titles and LEs will be better on display going forward.