Observed Signal · Jul 1, 2026 · Deprecation · Source: PocketGamer.biz · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Infold Games Cancels Valko Romance Addition
Infold Games has cancelled plans to add Valko, a werewolf romanceable character, to its mobile title Love and Deepspace after significant player backlash. Valko had been scheduled to arrive on July 9 as part of the version 6.0 update. The announcement generated large-scale negative feedback — reportedly more than 200,000 complaints on Weixin — amid concerns about expanding the number of love interests, potential dilution of content per character and gacha rate impacts. The developer posted an apology and said it had introduced Valko prematurely. Infold Games now says it will not add further love interests and will focus on developing the stories of the five existing romance options.
Community backlash led to a developer rollback and change in live‑ops/content roadmap for a gacha romance game — relevant to game studios, publishers and community management practices but not industry‑shifting for AdTech/MarTech.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Infold Games cancelled plans to add Valko, a werewolf romanceable character, to Love and Deepspace.
- Valko was scheduled to be added on July 9 as part of the game's version 6.0 update.
- More than 200,000 complaints were reportedly made on Weixin following the announcement.
- Infold Games apologised publicly and stated it will not introduce additional love interests, instead focusing on the five existing romance options.
- Love and Deepspace launched in January 2024 and has had five romanceable characters (Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Caleb) prior to the planned Valko addition.
Connected Companies & Entities
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Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Love and Deepspace Cancels Bilibili World 2026 Appearance
Infold Games cancelled Love and Deepspace’s planned panel and appearance at Bilibili World 2026 after backlash over a now-removed love interest character, Valko. The studio apologised via its Xiaohongshu account, said it would reimburse ticket, airfare and hotel losses for affected fans, and confirmed it would conduct internal training while honouring Chinese culture and history. A fan petition asking Infold and Paper Games to restore Valko has surpassed 230,000 signatures. Infold also said it will not introduce additional love interests and will focus on expanding stories for the game's five existing romance options.
Love and Deepspace revenue plunges 68% after Valko controversy
Infold Games' mobile title Love and Deepspace saw a dramatic fall in player spending after backlash around a planned character named Valko. AppMagic estimates the game earned $10.3M across Google Play and the App Store in July 2026, a 68% month-on-month drop from $32.4M in June. Version 6.0 launched in early July but the Valko love interest was removed at the last minute; daily spending peaked at $906k (a 177% uplift) versus a $6.7M single-day peak during the version 5.0 launch. The controversy included concerns tied to an in-game file labelled A-0731 and a large global petition; Infold Games said it will not add additional love interests and will instead expand existing romances.
Developer Reports 55,000 Steam Refunds
German developer Mateo Covic (alias Zoroarts) reported that more than 55,000 players requested refunds for his short cooperative game Paddle Paddle Paddle on Valve's Steam store, producing an unusually high refund rate (~21%) despite roughly 90% positive user reviews. The refunds exploit Steam's automated refund rule that allows returns for games owned fewer than 14 days with under two hours playtime — a window that disadvantages deliberately short titles. Covic called on Valve to change the system. The game's publisher, Assemble Entertainment, and sales of about 270,000 units mean the project remains commercially successful despite the high refund volume. Valve has not yet issued an official response.
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