Needy Streamer Overload: Overdose
(Steam code was still received for free. I did buy the OST though)
It’s surreal to be into something that had very little coverage during it’s development but then came out to become one of the biggest indie games of the past few years to also amass attention outside of its initially niche demographic. Basically, Needy Streamer blew up since its release. It blew up big after its initial scope was fairly modest given its scale.
In its initial first week (January 21st, 2022), Needy Streamer Overload had sold 100,000 copies on steam. To celebrate the milestone, LINE stickers akin to the ones in game were in production and it had its first collab with the rhythm game “Muse Dash” which allowed you to play the game’s theme song Internet Overdose. By Febuary, they sold 200,000 copies. By March, they sold 300,000 copies and the LINE stickers (along with an animated profile background) were available. April saw them achieve 350,000 downloads and the OST put unto streaming services. In June, a merch store opened up. 4 months from then, they would release a Switch version of the game and release an update that expanded the game to add an assortment of new endings and various other touches. In March of 2023, the second song produced by Aiobahn in relation to Needy Streamer Overload was uploaded to YouTube. The video now sits at 43 million views while the original theme of Internet Overdose sits at just 22 million (as of time of writing) despite being online for 3 years. Currently, Needy Streamer Overload has a designated tag on TikTok with a total of over 79.6 million views. The game had finally reached 1,000,000 sales by June 30th, 2023.
This is also skipping over events such as concerts, animated MVs uploaded to Twitter, various brand deals, manga, actual figures based on the figures of the character made within the in-game universe, cosplayers, VTubers streaming the game, and various covers/mixes/remixes of Internet Overdose and Internet Yamero. To say that NGO (Needy Girl Overdose) became a runaway success would be an understatement. Not only was it a game that managed to find its audience, it found much more than that. It has completely established itself in internet anime/streamer culture and branched into viral phenomena.
NGO deals with internet addiction, isolation, depression, anxiety, drug abuse, medication, online harassment, doxxing, internet controversy, self harm, mental health, objectification, self worth in the digital age, streamer burn out, dissociation, and various other topics. Aside from simply changing the drugs and substances to different candies, I’m unaware of how much the Switch release both keeps and removes from the PC release. Ame (the main protagonist) still has a private Twitter account that has been found to connect to a real @ on the website while a separate account poses as KAngel to release MVs, shorts, and various other media officially related to the game. Despite dealing with such heavy topics, the game still finds ways to be funny or to ensure you’re at least enjoying yourself.
It’s not a game that attempts to slowly break you down or “come to realize the horrors of streaming” but more of an experimental scenario where you have to amass internet fame using methods people are likely already aware of and emphasizing the stress of being a fem streamer with an encroaching deadline of bills to pay and sustained growth. It’s a management sim with you playing as the only person running a self-employed business in the digital age and each part of your day connects back to working each night just before passing out to doing it again the next day regardless of if it’s a weekend or holiday.
In my initial review of NGO (which I still have some undecided feelings about), I mentioned that Ame is not a character that the player is meant to aspire to be but that hasn’t stopped people from cosplaying her or mimicking her in various aspects. The trend of impressionable people reflecting characters they take a liking to isn’t uncommon but I find it interesting that more people relate to an openly unstable 20 something year old woman playing a character online for money due to an inability to reconcile with the “adult world” than I think both the dev team and the audience anticipated. She’s someone who’s good days can lead to bad days and bad days lead to intense mental scaring but also a boost in views. Ame seems unlikely to pull out a ukulele but her doing so wouldn’t make her any more out of the ordinary than anyone else who has spent their significant developmental period on the internet.
The new content added to the game mostly featured three new endings. One of them is a fairly simple condition to meet since it places an ending in a scenario where the game would previously just not allow you to do anything. Another is relatively hidden but gives another possible ending for those exploring other streams and like the endings tied to those. The last one involves maxing out your follower count and essentially is a challenge condition. What makes the last ending interesting to me is the seeming similarity it has with the game’s current popularity. A goal that started as massive leading to KAngel becoming a global phenomena and making the initial goal appear to be just a footnote along her career.
The internet is a massive collection of people living their lives while attempting to break into whatever fits their relative definition of “fame” and “notoriety” which often leads to many different outrages headlines and stunts. If everyone is guaranteed 15 seconds of fame, then a lot of the modern internet is focused around using your 15 seconds to snowball it into 15 years. That effort and time of wringing yourself out for different stories and experiences to both be varied but consistent while entertaining to an ever growing number of viewers who you now depend on to make sure you can pay your rent.
I’m not going to pretend that the internet has fundamentally changed. It hasn’t. However, it also has stayed the same for a lot longer than we also like to realize. To “google” something has become a general verb when using search engines. Going “live” is now more associated with streaming than broadcast television, and “going viral” is so old yet well known that we keep inventing new ways to say it without coming off as old and out of touch. Needy Girl Overdose is an example of how all those old aspects of the internet, nerd/otaku culture, and societal pressures still loom large over our lives as we become more and more used to overnight internet stars signing record label deals for 5 years.
The internet is old enough now that an entire generation has been raised on it and function within it as an extension of their casual lives. You can be Ame during your day and be KAngel by night. This exposure to so much information, opinion, and perception is all an intense pressure cooker for anybody under the age of 30 to learn and adapt to without being told what to lookout for before we get irrevocably scarred by this thing that is the second half of our lives. Some people have more in their outside lives to latch onto, while others have more in their online lives. Things have changed and can never be the same again.
All because things are different, doesn’t mean it’s all downhill. Even for all the stress, anxiety, and flooding negative thoughts that can pour in as a result of the people who are also on the internet, Needy Girl Overdose still has that spark of honesty. Ame still opens up about why she loves the internet and how it helped her feel less lonely despite a troubled school life. Her disillusionment with “Adults” and traditionally held values is what spurs her to be an online creator. She knows of old online mystic discussions, conspiracy theories, gaming, anime, film, music, toys, fashion, and even streaming too. She’s an adult raised by the internet.
For as much as the internet has come into our lives and changed us to a point that going “back” would be a massive undertaking, it also has been a safe place for others to be their more authentic selves. Be it from talking about games on message boards, online shopping, or even just getting a recommendation for a show you would have never known existed otherwise, there’s reasons we still log in. We have friends we’ve made, memories we’ve shared, and experiences that can’t ever be replicated. Ame putting on the wig, starting her stream, and sharing her time with a potentially ever growing number of people who also are looking for community just like she did becomes less “sad and desperate” to a more admirable “we’re in this together” with the slightest tweak of perspective.
There’s not a lot that younger generations get to have anymore. Less spaces to physically hangout, less time to see friends, more stress, more exhaustion, less money, more business taxes… it becomes all consuming with very little in the way of release. People like other people. We like to socialize, discuss, argue, and love one another. Even if KAngel is a façade of a lonely girl who grew up being exposed to things she shouldn’t have been force to see on the internet, that doesn’t make her desire to connect with others any less real than that of her fan’s or our very own. Life can already be a very lonely experience, so let’s be scarred by the internet together. Just remember to do it responsibly.
