Only Up! is the new viral sensation from indie developer SCKR Games. This unique 3D platformer launched on 24 May 2023 and has already racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok and across other social media channels. The aim of the game is to climb as high as possible into the clouds, and its huge online appeal comes from impressive speed runs and crushing failures that force players to start from scratch.
In Only Up!, you play as Jackie. According to the game’s Steam listing, Jackie is a teenager “from the ghetto” and “wants to get out of poverty and embark on a journey of learning about the world”.
But this journey is no already quest of self-discovery. Instead, Jackie must climb high above the city by scaling all kinds of weird and wonderful objects and structures.
One of these structures is a giant model of a woman dressed in a cheerleader outfit and wearing red headphones. She is affectionately called “Anime Girl” and “Waifu” by players. The Anime Girl must be successfully traversed by players in order to progress and is one of the game’s riskier climbs.
However, much to players’ disappointment, they found the Anime Girl had been removed from Only Up! on 30 June with no official explanation.
Why was Anime Girl (Waifu) removed from Only Up?
It appears the Anime Girl was removed from Only Up! as the asset belonged to digital artist Aboulicious and was not available for commercial use.
In a tweet on 29 June, Aboulicious wrote: “The moment when @venom_virtual tells you that the currently very successful game #OnlyUp has at least one asset from me #gerippt . Well… what can I say about that… make up your own mind.”
They attached a picture of the allegedly stolen asset to support their claims. You can see an image of the asset created by Aboulicious below.
Aboulicious’ asset – which is called Blanket In The Wind – was shared on Sketchfab seven years ago and bears a resemblance to the Only Up! Waifu. Its license details are also provided and it is listed as “CC Attribution-NonCommercial”. This means the asset is not available for commercial use.
Only Up! players on Twitter were quick to comment on the situation and voice their disappointment. @WeSkillNow tweeted: “The entire world of Only Up has been destroyed at the removal of Anime Girl, an asset that was accidentally used but was not-for-commercial-use”.
@SaIvahtion wrote: “THEY GOT RID OF THE ANIME GIRL IN ONLY UP WHY”. User @lumikass said: “Wait??? Where is the Anime Girl???”
Will Anime Girl return to Only Up?
Despite the controversy, Anime Girl may make yet make a comeback. In a Steam community forum post, Only Up! developer MitrandiL99 said: “Anime girl, wyffu, will be back soon, updated and yet just as beautiful. Don’t worry!”
Aboulicious shared an update on Twitter on 30 June suggesting the situation may soon be resolved. They wrote: “The developers @SCKRgames, the developers of #OnlyUp got in touch with me. Information will follow as soon as there is a result.”
Exactly when (and if) Anime Girl will return to the game is unclear. However, despite this incident, Only Up!‘s viral success shows no signs of slowing down.
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