Rank Update  & Q&A from Roundtable

Hello everyone. Thank you for continuing to use Pococha!
In this blog, producer Daisuke will answer questions about function updates and changes as well as other questions from Pococha users! Please read it to the end.

Rank System Update & Changes Announcement

After investigating our US ecosystem we found that there were fewer US users Ranking Up than in Japan, due to a smaller pool of viewers. Thus, we have made plans to create a fair environment. The following updates are planned:

Short-Term Solutions

To counteract the low amount of viewers, we plan to double our marketing budget to attract more viewers, and multiply US broadcaster’s Support Points by 1.3x (30% bonus). With this change, we plan to have the same percentage of US broadcasters ranking up as JP broadcasters.

These short-term solutions will take effect as soon as possible! An update will be provided soon on the 1st week of October.

Temporary Freeze Passes

Until the above changes take effect, we will distribute two additional Premium Freeze Tickets per week to broadcasters in D Rank & above. E rank is not applicable because there is no difference between JP and US.

By using a Freeze Ticket for up to 4 days a week, you will be able to broadcast without worrying about Rank fluctuations.

If you use the maximum number of Freeze Tickets, it will be possible to have your Family concentrate their support that into 3 days instead of 5 days, and in theory, the amount of support per day will be about 1.5 times. That way, it will be similar to the 1.3 times Support Points bonus that will take effect soon.

Example:
Suppose that you normally use 2 Freeze Passes and broadcast for 5 days and get 100 coins each day. 100 coins ✕ 5 days = 500 coins
With 2 Extra Freeze Passes: Your Family can instead send those 500 coins across 3 days, earning you 166 coins each day.

Of course, this distribution of support is only an example & a theory. But, I thought that distributing 2 premium Freeze Tickets to close the gap between Japan and the United States is the best measure that can be implemented at present.

Freeze Ticket Distribution

The first distribution will be made around 6pm PT on September 23 (Thursday), and will be carried out at the same timing every week until the other short-term solutions are implemented!
This additional Premium Freeze Ticket has a maximum of 2 Tickets that can be owned at one time, if you still have the maximum number at the time of the next grant, you will not be able to acquire additional tickets. These 2 additional Freeze Passes will not effect your normal limit. Please be careful.
Also, please note that the target audience of these tickets refers to those who are D Rank & above 2 days before the distribution timing (Must be D Rank & above every Tuesday).

Again, please note that these Freeze Passes are temporary and will stop once the other short-term solutions mentioned above take effect.

Long-Term Solutions

Dividing the US & JP Rank Systems

In order to prepare a more permanent solution, we are looking into dividing the current Rank System into two different systems – US & JP. This direction is not confirmed, but we are looking into it as a possibility to see if it is the best solution. Since it is a major change, this solution may take a few months to implement.

Q&A Round Table #1

Q&A is an event where Daisuke Mizuta, the Pococha producer, answers questions and comments from users!

Daisuke:

This time, I’d like to share with you all the questions and answers I received at Round Table #1, which was held for the first time on September 16, 2021!

Thank you to all our users who attended the first US Round Table.

We spent over 2 hours discussing upcoming changes to Pococha, user feedback, & answering questions. This was Executive Producer Daisuke’s first time meeting one on one with US users.

We plan to improve the operation of the event, including preparing more time for interactive questions & answers with the event attendees. We plan to hold the next one in early October!

Here’s a look at some things we covered.

We have heard much feedback about the length of diamond conversion payouts for our users. Therefore, we are looking into the quickest method to shorten the payout period to match US expectations! We would like to bring our average payout period to under 20 days.

We hope to be able to report on the improvements at the next Round Table scheduled for early October.

New items are coming! We have plans to bring over many of our popular items from Japan, as well as creating unique ones for the US! Stay tuned.

We have plans to bring Pococha to many new areas & countries soon! However, we believe that the US is currently the most important market.

Therefore, we plan to focus on Pococha in the US first. After we improve the Rank System and other issues you have identified, we will explore other possible markets.

Holiday events are on their way very soon, stay tuned. Below are a few that we are considering!

Love your Family? We do too! A Family update is coming.

Here are some things were are planning to add:

• Multiple chat channels within a Family (create a channel just for updates, and a secret one to surprise your broadcaster for their birthday!)
• Chat message stickers, reactions, & more to increase interaction.
• Pin messages so Family members can easily locate them.

Pococha is not a finished product. Our view is that it is in eternal beta.

This means we need to keep our eye several years out, not just focused on short term goals, and do our best in everyday operations. We will add new functions, and get rid of bad functions.

We hope together with all of you we will be able to watch the continued growth and evolution of our eternal beta.

What is most important to growing Pococha is creating a comprehensive and healthy community, and our various initiatives focus on that goal. 

We also are looking to validate that having a common global product will work. 

We do not intend to make functions just for Japan or just for the US. We will only select functions that work in both markets to keep in Pococha!

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We look forward to your attendance at the next Round Table event, be sure to RSVP!

We are looking forward to spending time speaking with you and having productive conversations.

-The Pococha Team