PLAYISM and developer Glitch Pitch have announced Idol Manager: Virtual Venture, a sequel to the 2021 entertainment industry management simulator Idol Manager, with a 2027 launch planned for PC via Steam in Early Access. The reveal arrived May 10, 2026, during the PLAYISM Game Show, where it was one of eleven titles featured.
Virtual Venture moves the franchise out of the pop idol agency and into the virtual streaming industry. Where the original limited the agency to female idols, the sequel has the player acting as a manager, opening a streaming company that can recruit male streamers, female streamers, or a roster combining both. Building a streamer involves designing their avatar, picking their stream overlays, choosing their music, and shaping their broadcast layout, with the player reacting to viewer messages in real time during the stream itself. Social media activity is another aspect that needs to be managed, where the player approves how the streamer engages with posts and flags accounts deemed harmful.

The first game’s combination of management sim, visual novel writing, and dark comedy returns. Conversations with the talent build trust over time. At the same time, those exchanges reveal what is happening among the streamers, as bonds and rivalries form and romances and internal disputes begin to take root. Scandals appear among the random in-game events that shape each streamer’s trajectory. Streamer dorm room designs can change, reflecting the personality of the talent assigned to them. PLAYISM asks players whether, as managers, they can lead their streamers toward “a bright, promising future or a dark, grueling one.”

The Steam page outlines a release plan. Early Access will include all core mechanics, the sandbox Free Play Mode, and roughly the first twenty percent of Story Mode. The full Story Mode is being developed with three routes and different endings, and the romance system, which lets the player pursue relationships with their streamers, will not be present at Early Access launch. Glitch Pitch expects to spend approximately twelve to eighteen months in Early Access before full release. Content planned for the full version includes additional mechanics, more art assets, more random events, and expanded building options for the agency.

Idol Manager: Virtual Venture will support English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese at launch, with more languages to follow. The game is available to wishlist now on Steam.