Nijisanji EN VTuber defends controversial Play Button policy

A member of Nijisanji EN has spoken out and defended the VTuber agency’s controversial policy on YouTube Play Buttons by insisting the talents can be sent one if they ask.

For several years now, Nijisanji VTubers have claimed they are not sent Play Buttons by management, unique trophies given out by YouTube to celebrate subscriber milestones. These Play Buttons are kept at Anycolor’s office rather than being sent out to talents.

Several former members have commented on this including Mysta Rias who expressed frustration that he had not received a Play Button despite passing one million subscribers. Equally, Dokibird admitted to only receiving her first Play Button in February 2024, insinuating that she never received one as Selen Tatsuki.

This policy has proven controversial with fans believing the VTubers should be rewarded for their work. One particularly contentious point is that Nijisanji’s largest competitor Hololive does send out Play Buttons and has even shown a willingness to pay for multiple as was the case with Fuwamoco.

Claude Clawmark claims members can ask for Play Button

Having passed 100,000 subscribers, Nijisanji member Claude Clawmark celebrated his first Play Button expressing, “When I saw it in person, I was like, Oh my god yippee! Now it’s going to stay at the office next to all the other really cool buttons.”

Addressing potential concerns on this topic, Claude continued, “I know there are some people who are like ‘Oh my god, how come the Livers can’t have their own button. How come they can’t take it home?’ and it’s like all right, dog, you know what? If we really wanted one, we could just f**king ask.”

Claude then revealed why he is happy regardless: “I think the bigger thing for me, it’s really f**king cool the fact that I even have a button to begin with. If I could even have a button that sh*ts already cool enough.”

He then went on to explain, “I think it’s all the more important the fact that like damn, I can have that sh*t next to other cool people who also have a really cool Button.”

Addressing a fan who asked Nijisanji to let Claude have his own Play Button, the VTuber stated, “It really bothered me because this is the thing. Me being here and being able to do the things that I do and being able to reach this size. I don’t even think I would have hit 100k by myself at all,” before describing his success as a “cumulative effort.”

The reception to Claude’s comments has been largely negative with fans believing Nijisanji should buy Play Buttons for its members without them having to ask. Others were skeptical of Claude’s claims which contrast what several other Nijisanji VTubers have previously stated.