CodeMiko

CodeMiko is an independent 3D virtual streamer who broadcasts mainly on Twitch and also publishes on YouTube. She is known for her interview show with other streamers and internet personalities and for pushing the limits of interactive VTuber technology.

Profile

Item	Detail
Debut	2020 (Twitch)
Agency	Independent
Platforms	Twitch, YouTube
Model type	Full-body 3D, motion capture
Engine	Unreal Engine
Alter ego	Glitch

Career

The CodeMiko project began as a solo effort and started streaming on Twitch in 2020. The character's avatar was built from scratch. It was modeled in Autodesk Maya, textured with Adobe Substance, and is made up of about 36,000 polygons. It runs live in Unreal Engine, driven by an Xsens motion capture suit, Manus VR motion capture gloves and a MOCAP Design facial tracking helmet. Over time the project grew from one person into a small team that includes an engineer, an artist, animator and rigger, a publicist, a personal assistant and a manager.

Her audience grew sharply in 2021, when a tweet went viral and her clips spread widely on the Reddit community r/LiveStreamFails. That same year she played in the online amateur chess tournament PogChamps 3. Woman Grandmaster Anna Rudolf and Andrea Botez coached her. She finished last with four losses and no wins, tied with the streamer Myth. Over the following years, several brands sponsored her channel.

Media coverage of the project has been largely positive. Kotaku called CodeMiko "The Future Of Streaming," and Designboom said she was "revolutionizing the digital space." The Financial Times suggested her content might signal "the next frontier of digital entertainment," and Quartz called her "the talk show host of the future." The Verge described her as reshaping the Twitch landscape in her own image.

Activities

Streaming style

A central part of CodeMiko's streams is an interview format in which she talks with other streamers, content creators and internet personalities. Critics have compared this format to the 1990s animated parody talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Her virtual environment is designed to be quasi-interactive: viewers can change the avatar and its surroundings through live chat commands or donations. This makes interaction with the audience a core feature of her broadcasts rather than an add-on.

In the storyline, CodeMiko travels through different game worlds looking for a place where she fits in. So far her streams have visited a world of dead memes and the world of The Sims. Like Projekt Melody, she also has a glitchy alter ego. Through augmented reality and crossover segments, CodeMiko often breaks the fourth wall, for example by interviewing the Technician, the in-universe character who built her.

Characteristics

In her backstory, CodeMiko is a video game character without a game. She always wanted to appear in a mainstream video game, but her "Glitch" kept holding her back. Because of this she was stuck in small parts, such as playing a bush in The Last of Us, much like a struggling actress hoping for any role. She eventually found her way into the Technician's Unreal Engine project and became a Twitch streamer.

Her usual look has pink hair. When her glitchiness takes over, she changes into her evil alter ego, simply called Glitch. This version uses a semi-transparent avatar inspired by the digital rain from The Matrix and has a deeper, hoarser voice made with a voice changer. Glitch is very profane and tries to offend. CodeMiko herself has been described as "kind of stupid" and unfiltered, someone who says whatever she thinks or sees. Her humor is often adult-oriented. Commentators have compared her to Kizuna AI, one of the earliest and largest VTubers, as another notable virtual personality.