>>46626
The latter: these are almost certainly multi-year contracts, with people who will probably have to agree to basically scrape up against the Japanese Visa limit if they have to, because Cover wants more concerts, and that isn't happening without a lot of practice together.
I'd also, honestly, expect the requirements to be stricter than ever: Cover will have serious financial problems if the money it has been pouring into its staff and games doesn't start seeing a big return, and they're getting a reputation for people quitting now, which makes forming attachments much harder.
So, I'd honestly expect this to be *the* Parasocial Generation: more fan interactions (on stream or no,) more structured collabs, more integrated sponsor events. They've tried hiring professional singers and experienced streamers, but those just haven't been a good enough substitute for the already established people they keep losing.
And they have to do *something* big, because those tariffs will start to eat them alive if they can't get people to drop $100 on low quality merch.