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LOS ANGELES, CA- Whoever said Anime Expo attendance was male-dominated clearly had not encountered Infold Games’ Love and Deepspace, because it seemed as though every woman at the convention had converged on a single booth.
Developed by Papergames and published globally by Infold Games, Love and Deepspace is far more than a traditional point-and-click visual novel. The 3D sci-fi action RPG combines real-time combat with cinematic first-person romance, allowing players to battle alien creatures alongside their chosen love interests before returning home to deepen those relationships.
Released on January 18, 2024, as the newest installment in the studio’s Mr Love franchise, Love and Deepspace quickly grew beyond its niche origins. According to AppMagic, the game generated an estimated $43.2 million across the App Store and Google Play during its first 30 days. By its second anniversary in January 2026, tracked mobile spending had reportedly reached approximately $933.7 million. Because those figures exclude revenue from sources such as direct web shop purchases, AppMagic estimated total player spending across all platforms had already surpassed the $1 billion mark. An independent Gacha Revenue ranking later placed Love and Deepspace as the highest-grossing gacha title it tracked for June 2026, with an estimated $38.4 million in mobile revenue for the month.
In other words, this is no cult phenomenon. It is one of the largest games in the genre, and Anime Expo 2026 made the sheer scale of its audience impossible to ignore.
The official booth featured reservation-only interactive sessions with professional cosplayers portraying the game’s romantic leads: Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, and Caleb. There was no dedicated press access. Either you secured a reservation or joined the ever-expanding crowd of attendees trying to peek over one another while collectively insisting the situation remained perfectly manageable.
It wasn’t.
Security was eventually reinforced around the interactive sessions, particularly near Sylus, whose devoted fanbase seemed to view the crowd-control barriers as more of a suggestion than an actual boundary. It was the sort of scene that makes you wonder why anyone would risk getting trampled by the hot and bothered.
Apparently, me.
The booth succeeded because it understood the game’s appeal with remarkable precision. Love and Deepspace isn’t built around watching a romance unfold from the sidelines. Instead, it’s built around making the player feel personally acknowledged, noticed, and chosen.
That emotional connection also happens to be the foundation of its business model.
Rather than selling players increasingly powerful equipment, Love and Deepspace monetizes emotional investment. Limited-time collectible cards are tied directly to relationship milestones and exclusive story moments. Missing an event banner doesn’t simply mean losing access to stronger statistics; it feels like missing an important chapter in an ongoing relationship. According to AppMagic estimates, the game’s “Throne of Eros” anniversary event alone generated more than $22 million in player spending.
The Anime Expo booth effectively translated that same formula into the real world by temporarily removing the screen. For a few moments, the fantasy wasn’t happening through a smartphone. It was standing a few feet away, impeccably costumed, making eye contact, and quite possibly raising attendees’ standards for real-life men indefinitely.
A separate fan-organized interactive panel, officially listed on Anime Expo’s schedule as an unofficial event, expanded upon that same enthusiasm. Filled with games, role-playing activities, and increasingly animated audience participation, the room buzzed with infectious energy. It was loud, hilarious, and refreshingly free of self-consciousness. Nobody had shown up pretending this was merely a casual hobby.
That same passion also fueled one of the convention’s more unexpected storylines: Valko.
The werewolf-inspired corporate executive was officially revealed in June 2026 as Love and Deepspace’s sixth romance option. Following a complicated wave of community controversy, however, the developer unexpectedly canceled the character’s release only days before Anime Expo. Valko’s planned convention appearance disappeared along with him.
His fans refused to let that be the end of the story.
Throughout the Los Angeles Convention Center, “Missing” posters featuring Valko’s illustrated portrait appeared taped to poles and walls, transforming an absent, unreleased fictional character into one of the convention’s most visible presences. Fans even assembled impromptu shrines and tributes in his honor, ensuring that the character remained impossible to ignore despite never officially appearing.
Watching attendees rally around a canceled fictional werewolf while simultaneously overwhelming security for a silver-haired villain illustrated something far more significant than successful marketing. It demonstrated the extraordinary emotional investment Love and Deepspace has cultivated within its community.
At Anime Expo 2026, the game’s greatest achievement wasn’t simply attracting enormous crowds. It was convincing thousands of people that fictional relationships were worth celebrating together in the real world.
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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MORE COVERAGE AT ANIME EXPO 2026
Love and Deepspace Dominates Anime Expo 2026 with Billion-Dollar Success and Devoted Fans
