>>32823396
Vtubers and gacha are the two biggest revolutions in the otaku industry because it allows the industry to convert "character love" into money with direct and unlimited payments.
Prior to this, companies had to bust their ass off creating merchandise that most people didn't necessarily want or need and had to complete at fixed price points with massive overhead costs, in the form of BDs or preorders or figures or whatnot. Now they can collect directly, and more important, they can collect from the long tail of people who have way too much fucking money.
In the ten or so years prior to getting into either gacha or vtubers I'd spent maybe 2k on otaku goods (mostly doujinshi, since I don't really purchase digital products and don't collect figurines), but ever since getting started on the new generation of money sinks I've put in maybe twice that again.