Pixiv Invests in VRChat Inc. in Capital and Business Alliance
The alliance extends Pixiv's role from selling avatar assets on BOOTH into shaping how newcomers first experience VRChat, with the tutorial world aimed at lowering the barrier to entry for beginners.
Key Facts
- Pixiv Inc. announced on September 9, 2026 that it invested in VRChat Inc. and entered a capital and business alliance; the investment amount and ownership ratio were not disclosed.
- The first collaboration step is Pixiv supporting VRChat's booth at Tokyo Game Show 2026, held September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe, with Pixiv joining guest sessions.
- The second step is the new VRChat world Avatar x Dress-Up Tutorial, a working title developed by Pixiv for beginners, co-released this fall with VRChat's full promotional support.
- BOOTH's 3D model category passed 10 billion yen in annual transaction value in 2025, reaching about 10.4 billion yen, up from roughly 5.8 billion yen the prior year.
- VRChat reports more than 250,000 active communities, an average of 100,000 concurrent users daily, and a peak above 160,000 concurrent users.
Reporting from 3 sources: KAI-YOU, GameBusiness.jp, PANORA.
Pixiv Inc. announced on September 9 that it has invested in VRChat Inc. and entered a capital and business alliance with the San Francisco-based operator of the social VR platform VRChat. The two companies will collaborate over the next several years on joint promotions, events, and technical integration, with the stated goal of supporting the creator ecosystem around 3D avatar culture. The investment amount and ownership ratio were not disclosed. As a first step, Pixiv will support VRChat's booth at Tokyo Game Show 2026, held September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe, and join guest sessions there. As a second step, the two companies plan to co-release a new VRChat world this fall, titled Avatar x Dress-Up Tutorial as a working name, developed by Pixiv for VRChat beginners to learn how to pick an avatar and change its outfit. The alliance builds on BOOTH, Pixiv's creator marketplace, whose 3D model category passed 10 billion yen in annual transaction value in 2025. VRChat reports more than 250,000 active communities, an average of 100,000 concurrent users daily, and a peak above 160,000.
The BOOTH 3D model category's 2025 annual transaction value reached about 10.4 billion yen, up roughly 179 percent from about 5.8 billion yen the year before, according to the "BOOTH 3D Model Category Transaction White Paper 2026" Pixiv published in February. The category has effectively become Japan's largest e-commerce site for VRChat-related items. VRChat Inc. CEO Graham Gaylor said the company's role is to support creators' creativity and "help ensure that avatar creation becomes meaningful work that is compensated." Pixiv CEO Yasuhiro Niwa said the alliance deepens collaboration in "creation," "distribution," and "experience" within 3D avatar culture. Pixiv launched the VRoid Project in 2017 with the goal of "a world where everyone can have a 3D avatar," and operates VRoid Studio and VRoid Hub as entry points for avatar creation. VRChat is available on Steam, Meta Quest Store, PICO, iOS, and Android, and is free to use. VRChat Inc. was established in 2014; Pixiv was founded July 25, 2005, and its pixiv service has over 100 million registered users. The tutorial world's working title is provisional, with the official name to be decided later. It is being developed by Pixiv with full promotional support from VRChat. The TGS 2026 booth is VRChat's first exhibition at the show.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.