Mentioned on December 1st on Rave-Powered Gaming stream, Sephi Hakubi officially announced that the weekly mix show, Rave Smash, will conclude with Episode 26 on December 31st, 2020; furthermore, Sephi has also suggested that he will be taking a hiatus from streaming on Twitch in 2021, citing that he will be taking much more time focusing on music production, running the HakubiVerse label, and supporting his fellow artists.
Just like many creatives and performers shuttered during the Coronavirus pandemic, Sephi had entered the fray in live-streaming producing virtual music festivals and reviving a weekly mix show, and later streaming gameplay through HakubiVerse’s official Twitch channel. Rave Smash would officially make its debut on July 2nd after a successful audio stream from WeekEND Rave Smash on May 30th; featuring a 2-hour video broadcast on Twitch instead of the 1-hour radio show that was Weekly Rave Smash. Eventually, Sephi would incorporate gaming streams with his Rave-Powered Gaming series with games such as Just Shapes & Beats and Fairy Tail; in addition, host large-scale music festivals featuring Hard Dance and AnimEDM superstars with Nation of the Nightkids ONLINE and Dream Drop Revolution ONLINE. Through the course of his adventure in livestreaming, Sephi, along with the HakubiVerse family, had made incredible friends through these streams; as well as, events featured in other channels such as Neon Genesis Hardcore and Anivents Unlimited. Livestream has become a significant avenue for performers to express themselves during a period of required social distance and live-gathering restrictions; however, livestreaming is also another endeavor that requires a significantly large amount of effort that the RAVEmaker himself has had to evaluate against other endeavors that require attention.
Sephi has cited that “certain opportunities” that he is unable to reveal until January, a hardcore dedication to music production, and objectives that would suit a better return on investment for HakubiVerse has prompted the RAVEmaker to conclude Rave Smash on December 31st and reduce his streaming schedule. He does not intend to quit livestreaming altogether as he has suggested some plans for a return followed by some special streaming events next year; in addition, Sephi has taken time to stream on his SephiHakubi Twitch channel along with HakubiVerse, working on Affiliate status by the end of 2020. Currently, Sephi’s intention for December is continue Rave Smash on Thursdays until December 31st and finish Fairy Tail by the end of December as well. No additional plans have been confirmed, but his announcement can be seen at the beginning of his December 1st Rave-Powered Gaming stream on twitch.tv/hakubiverse.