From YouTube‘s early days, we’ve seen creators use their followings to launch bigger creative projects–everything from their own books, video games, and movies to full-fledged companies, media brands, and management firms. Now Valkyrae joins the ranks with her own production company, Hihi Studios.
Valkyrae (aka Rachell Hofstetter) has been YouTube’s biggest female streamer since 2020 and is the co-owner of gaming org 100 Thieves. Hihi Studios is her first time producing original fictional content, and she’s following a bit in Rooster Teeth‘s footsteps with her decision to focus the company on making series inspired by Japanese manga and anime. (Rooster Teeth produced some of the West’s biggest animes, RWBY and gen:LOCK, before it was shuttered earlier this year.)
“I have always loved anime and animation, so it definitely will inspire our projects in the storytelling and community around the various fandoms,” she told Variety. “We are also open to all types of graphic novels or comic books or manga or anime storytelling.”
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She launched Hihi Studios—named after her stream greeting “Hi hi!”–in partnership with several staffers from Range Media Partners, her longtime reps. Hihi’s co-founder is her manager Kai Gayoso, and team members include Gabe Pepe and Madeline McFerren.
The studio says it aims to develop strong IPs by making “narratives with staying power” that defy our current “world of hyper optimization” and can spin out into manga, anime, merch, and other products.
“Ultimately, I feel the greatest stories are the ones that can tap into the universal experiences of discovering who we are as human beings, stories that the viewer can relate to and definitely focus on entertaining audiences,” Valkyrae told Variety.
Hihi Studios already has a co-publishing deal with digital comic book platform GlobalComix. Per Variety, that partnership will have the two companies fund, creatively develop, and distribute physical and digital media related to Hihi’s first IP.
Valkyrae herself will take the stage Oct. 19 at this year’s New York Comic-Con to unveil Hihi’s first project:
hihi we’re going to new york comic con! excited to share our ceo @Valkyrae will take the stage to share a sneak preview of what we’ve been working on with our partners at @globalcomix …
saturday, october 19 | room 406.2 | 6:15pm pic.twitter.com/ajRCqUXDd2
— Hihi Studios (@hihistudios) October 1, 2024
She hasn’t said if Hihi will tap other creators, but we here at Tubefilter are wondering if Jacksepticeye might be involved. Not too long ago, he said in a YouTube upload that he’d come up with a stable of characters that would be introduced in a comic book series–and, perhaps later, star in their own animated show.
Valkyrae, seeing that clip on her stream, said, “Who knows, maybe we’ll do a TV adaptation of the comic or something,” with a raised eyebrow and a laugh.
@niceclips Jacksepticeye joining hih! Studios ? #rachellhofstetter #valkyrae #jacksepticeye #comics #hihi #hihistudios #fyp #streamer #yt #youtube #twitch #viral #fypageシ ♬ original sound – niceCLIPS
However Hihi proceeds, it’s the latest example of our industry’s innate creativity and the growing embrace of entrepreneurialism we’ve seen from creators in the last few years. Creators are building bigger and bigger companies with more and more big-box shelf space, and getting their content on big screens–and we expect that’ll not only continue, but accelerate over the next few years.
